The IFO index of production fell from plus two to minus 20 points in March, which is the sharpest since records began in 1991. Even in the 2008 global financial crisis, the index only fell by 12.3 points. Germany has seen more than 107,000 cases of COVID-19 and around 1,900 deaths as Chancellor Angela Merkel has called the outbreak its biggest crisis since the Second World War.