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| - Chancellor Angela Merkel will for the first time deliver a televised address to German citizens on the escalating coronavirus crisis on Wednesday evening, a government spokesman said. The German leader is expected to urge the public to heed government recommendations to stay home, after Europe's biggest economy announced sweeping new measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Aside from her annual New Year's Eve address, it will be the first time in her 15-year tenure as chancellor that Merkel has addressed citizens directly via a televised statement. The chancellor will not announce "new measures" in the address, which will be broadcast by Germany's two major broadcasters ARD and ZDF, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said. "It will be about what now has to be done in Germany in order to slow the spread of the virus and how each individual should play their part in that," he said. On Monday, the government and federal states announced drastic new restrictions to public life, including the closure of all non-essential shops and a ban on religious gatherings. Merkel and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also urged citizens to "stay home" and to cancel holidays "at home and abroad". Germany is among the countries worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with latest figures showing 12 deaths and 8,198 confirmed cases on Tuesday, a jump of 1,042 from the previous day. The Robert Koch Institute for public health, which publishes the official figures, warned early Wednesday that the virus could ultimately infect up to 10 million people in the next two to three months if government measures are not observed. kih/hmn/gd/lc
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