Germany on treatment of foreign virus patients

Germany said on Monday it has now treated more than 200 COVID-19 patients from other European Union countries in its hospitals and will pick up the bill for their treatment.

Steffen Seibert, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, didn't specify the cost of treatment but said paying them was a matter of "European solidarity."

Unlike those of some other European countries, Germany's health system hasn't been overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic.

It has been taking in patients from other countries for weeks.

A German Foreign Ministry spokesman had said previously Germany had taken in 229 patients from other EU states so far – 130 from France, 44 from Italy and 55 from the Netherlands.