Berlin, May 5 (AP) The head of Germany's national disease control center says there will be a second wave of coronavirus infections, but his country is well-prepared to deal with it.

Lothar Wieler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute, was responding Tuesday to a question about whether a planned contact-tracing app is still relevant given that new infections have slowed significantly.

Wieler put the current reproduction rate in Germany - the number of other people whom one person with the virus infects - at 0.71.

However, Wieler pointed to the nature of a pandemic and said “we know with great certainty that there will be a second wave - the majority of scientists is sure of that.

And many also assume that there will be a third wave.” He said that means that “this app is not coming too late.”

Wieler said that Germany's “preparation is definitely better” for a second wave.

He added that a lot has been done in recent months and doctors know more about how to deal with COVID-19 cases.

But he added: “it's clear, depending on how strong this second wave is, certain measures will of course have to be taken again if we want to slow the wave - I don't know how it could be handled differently.”

Germany is currently in the process of loosening restrictions imposed in March to slow the initial coronavirus outbreak. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)