A German hygienist has warned that the country's water supply has been lefty highly contaminated in the wake of devasting floods. Widespread flooding struck regions of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia in Western Germany earlier this month leaving 180 dead and 150 people missing. As German authorities look to begin a long clean-up operation, Klaus-Dieter Zastrow has warned that Coronavirus cases are also likely to rise amid concerns over drinking water.

       The hygienist told RT: "I expect the number of Covid cases in this area to rise in the next few days.

       "If the people work together there in a confined space then the transition of Corona is easier because everyone is not wearing mouth nose protection.

       "At least not in the pictures you see on TV.

       "We can see that human-to-human transmission remains the main method of transmission."

       He continued: "We had the safest drinking water in the whole world it was almost sterile.

       "Well, that is over now.

       "We have never had such a situation in Germany at least not this extreme.

       "But there is no difference between drinking water and sewage at the moment.

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       "The water that flowed through the streets of the villages was a mixture of excrement and rainwater.

       The hygiene expert went on to warn the public not to drink the untreatedwater.

       "Contaminated is very high," he warned

       "You shouldn't inhale anything or swallow anything because there are also environmental toxins and things like that."

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       Earlier this week Angela Merkel was warned the cleanup operation following devasting flooding in Western Germany "could take months."

       Flood-wrecked communities in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia have been left reeling by the disaster which has been blamed on climate change.

       Reporting from the ground in Western Germany, BBC News host Kasia Madera has warned that ahead of sensitive German national elections in September the clean-up attempt was "just the beginning of what will be a very long conversation

       "The local community is stunned, devasted," she added, "And of course with the elections coming up toward the end of September this will be just the beginning of what will be a very long conversation.