"I need to stress once again that you should not wait for a miracle. It is important to remain realistic and be prepared for possible failures. As before, our starting point is that a vaccine will be available no earlier than in 2021," Karliczek said during a press briefing, adding that the government has allocated almost $820 million to support the development of a vaccine.
On the same day, the government's spokesman Steffen Seibert spoke out against those spreading conspiracy theories about COVID-19.
"Those who are spreading them, they are preparing their own soup of conspiracies that they would be unable to make under different circumstances. Those who spread such things want to divide the country and set people against each other," Seibert said.
Spokesman for the Interior Ministry Steve Alter has noted that the authorities are monitoring the situation.
"We also know that there are attempts to instil via targeted disinformation an idea that the government is acting out of different motives than those it declares," he said, adding that there is no single person or entity behind those processes.
Germany has confirmed a total of 169,575 cases, with the death toll at 7,417.
