LÜKEX is short for Länder- und Ressortübergreifende Krisenmanagementübung, a crisis management exercise across federal states and ministries. The exercises run in a two-year cycle. On Wednesday, 7 November 2007, one of them played through a pandemic. In the scenario, 27 million people in Germany fell ill within eight weeks. 307,000 were treated in hospital, and 102,000 died. Seven federal states and about 3,000 people took part. Afterward, it was said internally that the crisis staff led by the interior and health ministries hat sich strukturell und organisatorisch uneingeschränkt bewährt, had proven itself fully in structure and organization. In fact, the exercise saw severe shortages of medicines, a breakdown of medical care in some districts, staff absences in hospitals and the police, and stalled communication between decision makers.
Thirteen years later, the real pandemic arrived.