BERLIN, Feb 26 (Reuters) - The head of Germany's RKI health
institute warned the public to be vigilant in upholding social
distancing since there was a risk otherwise of undoing progress
in controlling coronavirus case numbers and triggering a third
wave of the epidemic.
"Alongside the positive developments, we are currently
seeing a few clear signs of the trend turning," Lothar Wieler,
head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for Infectious Diseases,
told a news conference on Friday.
At the joint news conference with Health Minister Jens
Spahn, Wieler also urged Germans not to refuse a vaccine if
offered one. Officials have expressed growing disquiet over the
numbers of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine being left
untaken by nervous Germans.
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt
Editing by Paul Carrel)