Germany confirms first human-to-human transmission of Coronavirus in Europe
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Health authorities say the Bavarian man contracted the virus from a work colleague visiting from China. It is believed to be the first case of human-to-human transmission in Europe, DW reports.
The first person to have coronavirus in Germany was infected by a Chinese colleague who attended a company training in the state of Bavaria a week ago, health officials said on Tuesday.
He had attended a training session given by his Chinese colleague on 21 January at the office of a car parts supplier Webasto in Stockdorf in Bavaria and tested positive for the virus on Monday evening. Unlike the other patients, the 33-year-old had not recently travelled to China.
The colleague, a woman from Shanghai, “started to feel sick on the flight home on January 23,” Andreas Zapf, head of the Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety, said at a press conference.
In a statement, the Webasto company said it had halted all business travel to and from China “for at least the next two weeks”.
Health officials are checking 40 people that the two infected workers have been in contact with recently, including colleagues and family members.
