Angela Merkel welcomes better COVID-19 situation but Delta variant a worry

Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that a recent improvement in the number of coronavirus cases in Germany was pleasing but warned that the pandemic was not over and the risk from the Delta variant in Britain was worrying.

"We have a summer ahead that has a lot of possibilities, but we must not be carefree, we must keep looking at the situation very closely," she said after a meeting with the leaders of Germany's 16 federal states. "We are in a race (against the virus) with vaccinations," she said.