FRANKFURT: Finance minister of Germany’s Hesse state, Thomas Schaefer was reportedly committed suicide after becoming “deeply worried” over the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak in the world.
The state Prime Minister Volker Bouffier announced Sunday a 54-year-old Schaefer was found dead near a railway track on Saturday. The Wiesbaden prosecution’s office said that they believe he died after committing suicide.
In a recorded statement Bouffier said that Schaefer, who was Hesse’s finance chief for over 10-years, had been working day and night to support companies and workers deal with the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
He said today they have to assume that he was deeply worried,he added. Bouffier, a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Schaefer had long been touted as a probable successor to Bouffier. Like Bouffier, Schaefer affiliated to Merkel’s centre-right CDU party. He leaves behind a wife and two kids
Hesse is home to Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt, where key lenders such as Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank have their head offices. The European Central Bank is also situated in Frankfurt.
According to the Johns Hopkins University count, over 662,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed across the world and more than 30,000 people have died from coronavirus.
The total death toll from coronavirus in China Wuhan the epidemic center of the outbreak, now stands at 3,300, while the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country is 81,439, according to the health commission.
However, China had announced that the country would end the two-month lockdown on Wuhan, the city where the first coronavirus emerged, The epicenter of the diseases has now moved to Europe, particularly Italy, which is reporting a rapid increase in new cases and deaths every day.
The novel coronavirus, which has been declared as a ‘pandemic’ by the World Health Organization had wrost effects on global economy.
Even though, shortage of food items has been reported in countries such as America, Canada, Italy and Spain. Several countries are taking drastic steps to compensate the negative effects of pandemic on the economy.
