German minister: Harder to repatriate Germans as airports close

BERLIN (Reuters) – The German government has repatriated some 120,000 of an estimated 200,000 tourists stranded overseas by the coronavirus in recent days, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Monday.

Attention was now increasingly turning to travelers in more remote countries like Chile, Mexico, New Zealand and Gambia, from where repatriation presented a greater logistical challenge, he said.

The government was working with travel companies to bring their customers home but was also chartering its own flights where necessary he said, adding that arranging flights had become more difficult as countries closed air space and airports.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Thomas Escritt)