OREANDA-NEWS. German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she expects to return to normal life in Germany by the autumn of the next year.

“If we succeed with the vaccine, then we will have a relatively high hope that by the autumn semester we will have a more normal situation, but winter will be difficult,” the politician said during a virtual meeting with German students. The autumn semester in 2021 is scheduled to begin on October 1.

Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Health of the Federal Republic of Germany made a forecast that by the end of the summer in the country 60 % of citizens would be vaccinated against coronavirus. Specialists consider the threshold of 60–70 % is necessary to stop the uncontrolled spread of virus among the population.

On December 15, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Germany per day increased by 14,432, another 500 people died.