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UPDATE: As of 9:30pm on Tuesday, Jan 28, several outlets are reporting three additional cases. More on this as it develops.
According to a press conference held on Tuesday morning by the Bavarian Ministry of Health, the 1st case of coronavirus in Germany has been confirmed in Bavaria.
The patient is a 33 year old German man working in the Starnberg area, who tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday evening. The patient is now under isolated care and monitoring, with risk for the public remaining low. Members of the public are however encouraged to avoid large crowds, frequently wash their hands and minimize unnecessary contact with others, according to this announcement via Muenchen.de.
What do we know about this confirmed coronavirus case?
According to Muenchen.de, the patient is a 33 year old man from the Landsberg district, employed by the auto parts supplier Webasto in Starnberg (about 30 km away from Munich).
The man was infected following a professional work meeting with a Chinese colleague from Shanghai who had recently spent time with her parents from the Wuhan area (where coronavirus is said to have originated). She was in Bavaria from January 19 – 23, 2020 as part of a professional work training, and it was only after returning to China on the 23rd that she began to experience coronavirus symptoms. She tested positive for coronavirus shortly after visiting a hospital back in China.
According to DW, after a weekend experiencing bronchitis-like symptoms, the man returned to work on Monday, but went to get tested after Webasto insisted any symptoms be reported to a doctor. He tested positive for coronavirus on Monday evening.
According to a statement form the “Task Force Infektiologie“ of the Landesamts für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit (LGL) and the Robert Koch-Institut (RKI), the patient is in good condition with no fever or respiratory symptoms. He is currently being monitored at the Münchner Klinikum Schwabing and is said to pose no risk to other patients.
As DW reports, this particular situation is unique out of the approximate 50 coronavirus cases reported outside of China, because it is “the first known example outside of China of the infection spreading between people who are not closely related” (source). The approximate 40 individuals who had close contact with both patients have been notified and are now being examined.
For more information (in German), here is the full press conference:
Where to Go for Concerns and Questions
Further information is available on the official website of the LGL, and a phone hotline has also been set up at 09131 / 6808-5101.
