German researchers: Curbing new infections is the only viable strategy against coronavirus.

The only viable way to combat coronavirus is to bring down new infections and conduct contact tracing, Germany’s top four medical research societies said in a rare joint statement on Friday.

The Leibniz Association, Helmholtz Association, the Fraunhofer Society, and the Max Planck Society said in a statement that trying to achieve “herd immunity” is bound to fail.

“Achieving herd immunity would take several years if the health system is not to be overwhelmed,” the statement read.

They added that restrictions on public life would still be necessary in a herd immunity approach.

The statement said scientists from all four societies pooled their analysis of data and reached a common recommendation.

The researchers came up with a conclusion that a two-pronged approach is the most effective.

“In the first phase, new infections are reduced until effective contact tracing becomes possible. In the second phase, there can be an adaptive strategy based on low numbers of infections.”

For Germany, the researchers warn that while new coronavirus cases have been slowed down, “the situation is not stable, even a small increase in the reproduction number would lead us back into a phase of exponential growth.”

To date, Germany has reported more than 163,000 coronavirus cases and at least 6,600 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.