German Chancellor Angela Merkel says up to 70 percent of the population could eventually become infected by coronavirus, and proposed how to deal with the crisis’ impact on society and the economy.

“The virus has arrived in Europe, it’s there, we must all understand that. According to experts, 60 to 70 percent of the population could be infected if this remains the case,” said Merkel.

Germany has pledged €1 billion to fight COVID-19 virus, the whole of Italy is on lockdown and coronavirus cases have been confirmed in every EU member state.

Germany has so far reported 1,565 cases of the virus and three deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, and the chancellor has come under fire for her government’s handling of the response.

“I don’t want to comment on the situation in Germany, although I believe that such statements rather cause panic. In any case, we have adopted strong measures for such worst-case scenarios to be out of the question,” as reported by iDNES.

At 2 pm on Wednesday, the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Czech Republic had reached 67.

More than 121,000 cases and 4,368 deaths have now been confirmed around the world.