BERLIN (BLOOMBERG) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on the European Union to coordinate rules for travellers from areas with outbreaks of Covid-19 variants as the risk of a renewed spike in infections remains.

       "We're still treading on thin ice," Merkel said Thursday (June 24) in a speech to Parliament - likely to be her last major address to lawmakers after 16 years as chancellor.

       While Germany's infection rates have declined steadily for weeks, Merkel has raised concern in recent days about the delta variant. She has called for Germany's quarantine measures to be imposed across the bloc.

       Merkel was addressing lawmakers before heading to Brussels, where EU leaders gather later for a two-day summit to address the pandemic response and other issues, including foreign policy.

       "In Europe we can be cautiously optimistic, not only in Germany and all European countries," she said, adding that risks remain as long as many countries struggle with ramping up immunizations. "The pandemic is not over - certainly not in the poorest nations of the world."

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