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Agence France-Presse

A German man who tested positive for the strain of coronavirus currently sweeping China was infected by a work colleague, officials said on Tuesday, in what is believed to be the first human transmission in Europe.
The man had not visited China but a Chinese work colleague who was in Germany last week had “started to feel sick on the flight home on January 23”, said Andreas Zapf, head of the Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety.
He had attended a training session given by his Chinese colleague on January 21 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.


He remains in hospital in an isolation ward, but Zapf said he “was doing well”.
The Chinese woman immediately sought medical attention on her return to China and was confirmed to have caught the virus, which has spread rapidly in recent weeks after first emerging in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
The woman had recently returned from visiting her parents in the Wuhan region, Zapf said.
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 some 40 people that the two infected workers have been in contact with recently, including colleagues and family members.
The virus, which can cause a pneumonia-like acute respiratory infection, has so far killed 106 people and infected over 4,000 -- the bulk of them in and around Wuhan. Cases have also been reported in a string of other countries, including the United States, France, Australia and Japan.

France was the first European country to be affected by the outbreak, which has reported three known cases of the virus. All three had recently travelled to China and have been placed in isolation.
Germany has recommended its citizens avoid “unnecessary” trips to China as the virus spreads.
The country is also considering the possible evacuation of its nationals from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus.
China has tried to curb new infections by cordoning off entire cities right in the midst of the Lunar New Year, when millions of people normally travel to take holidays and visit family in other parts of the vast country.
Beijing has also extended the Lunar New Year holiday until Sunday in a bid to limit the movement of people.
The real number of infected in China could be much higher. Gabriel Leung, head of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, said on Monday that his team’s research indicated that there were likely around 44,000 cases at the incubation stage.
Most of those who died from lung disease after catching the virus were elderly or had pre-existing conditions.
China coronavirus: 110 patients under observation in US, while other countries assess plans as more ill people identified globally
Cases of the coronavirus have also been reported in South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Nepal, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United States, France and Australia.
Many countries in Europe and Asia are planning to repatriate their citizens from Wuhan. Japan, the United States and France have already begun repatriation operations.


Coronaviruses are a family of viruses ranging from a common cold to more severe disease like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars).
The new coronavirus was first discovered in the city of Wuhan in China’s Hubei province in December.
Additional reporting by DPA


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Coronavirus pandemic

China coronavirus: German man infected by colleague who had travelled to Wuhan

President of the Bavarian state office for health and food safety, Andreas Zapf (third left) and Bavarian Health Minister Melanie Huml (centre) speak during a news conference to confirm a German case of coronavirus. Photo: EPA-EFE

epa08171959 President of the bavarian state office for health and food safety, Andreas Zapf (3-L), speaks next to Bavarian Health Minister Melanie Huml (2-L), during a news conference in Miunich, Bavaria, Germany, 28 January 2020. The Bavarian Ministry of Health has confirmed late on 27 January, that a man from the district of Starnberg (Upper Bavaria) has become infected with the coronavirus. According to media reports, Chinese authorities have urged people to stop travelling in and out of Wuhan, the city at the center of the new virus outbreak that has so far killed at least 106 people and infected over four thousand others around the globe, mostly in China. EPA-EFE/LUKAS BARTH-TUTTAS

epa08170056 Medical staff check the temperature of passengers at Nanjing South Railway station in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China, 27 January 2020. China warned that the coronavirus outbreak is accelerating further, deepening fears about an epidemic that has affected more than 2,700 people worldwide and killed 80 people in the country.  EPA-EFE/SU YANG CHINA OUT

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A microscopic image of the first isolated case of the coronavirus. Photo: Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention via Reuters

epa08170679 People wear medical masks while walking around the Chinatown neighborhood of New York, New York, USA, 27 January 2020. The outbreak of the coronoaviruis, which is centered in China's Wuhan region, has killed at least 80 people and infected thousands of others, and major cities around the world are preparing for infections to spread. EPA-EFE/JUSTIN LANE

(FILES) In this file photo taken on January 22, 2020 a man reaches out for a mask at a Home Depot store in Los Angeles, California as the Coronavirus entered the United States this week. - A patient in California's Orange County was January 25, 2020 confirmed as the third person on US soil infected with the new deadly virus that originated in China, health officials said.The infected person was a traveler from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicenter of the outbreak, the Orange County Health Care Agency said.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the patient had tested positive for the Novel Coronavirus, it said. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP)

China coronavirus: 110 patients under observation in US, while other countries assess plans as more ill people identified globally

Travelers arriving at the Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday wore protective masks. A Centres for Disease Control and Prevention official said on Monday that while 110 persons were under observation for the coronavirus, “at this time in the US, this virus is not spreading”. Photo: AFP

TOPSHOT - Medical staff members wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city, arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan on January 25, 2020. - The Chinese army deployed medical specialists on January 25 to the epicentre of a spiralling viral outbreak that has killed 41 people and spread around the world, as millions spent their normally festive Lunar New Year holiday under lockdown. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)

epa08159910 Robert R. Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), arrives to give senators a briefing on the administration's response to the coronavirus in the Dirksen Senate Office Building at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, USA, 24 January 2020. The CDC has confirmed at least two cases in the US of the emerging coronavirus which originated in China. EPA-EFE/ERIK S. LESSER

epa08160009 Republican Senator from Florida Rick Scott (C) speaks to the news media before attending a briefing by US health officials on the response to the coronavirus in the Dirksen Senate Office Building at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, USA, 24 January 2020. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed at least two cases in the US of the emerging coronavirus which originated in China. EPA-EFE/ERIK S. LESSER

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Trader Tommy Kalikas works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. Photo: AP

A medical worker in protective gear checks a patient suspected of being ill with coronavirus at a community health station in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, Monday, Jan. 27, 2020. China on Monday expanded sweeping efforts to contain a viral disease by extending the Lunar New Year holiday to keep the public at home and avoid spreading infection. (Chinatopix via AP)

Trader Peter Tuchman works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Jan. 27, 2020. Stock tumbled at the open on Wall Street following a sell-off in markets in Europe and Japan as investors grow more concerned about the potential economic impact of an outbreak of a deadly coronavirus. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

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Patient is from Starnberg area of Bavaria, in what is believed to be the first human transmission in Europe
Germany seeking to repatriate 90 citizens living in Wuhan area



The man had not visited China but was infected by a colleague who had recently travelled to Wuhan, in what is believed to be the first human transmission in Europe.


China coronavirus: German man infected by colleague who had travelled to Wuhan

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Patient is from Starnberg area of Bavaria, in what is believed to be the first human transmission in Europe Germany seeking to repatriate 90 citizens living in Wuhan area

Patient is from Starnberg area of Bavaria, in what is believed to be the first human transmission in Europe

Germany seeking to repatriate 90 citizens living in Wuhan area