BERLIN, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Two German states on Friday announced closures of all schools and day-care facilities for children amid coronavirus concerns.
Saarland was the first German state to make the move starting next Monday, Minister-President of Saarland Tobias Hans announced on Friday morning.
Bavaria followed soon, with its Minister-President Markus Soeder announcing that the closure will last until the end of the Easter holidays on April 20.
Soeder added that visiting permission in hospitals and nursing homes will be "massively" restricted.
Without medication or vaccination for the coronavirus, "we are dependent on taking other measures to slow down the spread of the disease" in Germany, said Soeder during a press conference.
Confirmed cases of COVID in Germany increased to 2,369 on Thursday, according to Robert Koch Institute (RKI), a federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention.
So far, five people in Germany have died from the disease, all of them older than 67 years.
