Berlin / Starnberg – The corona virus has now reached Germany – and is spreading immediately!
In Bavaria alone there have been four confirmed cases of dangerous lung disease since last night.
How did the virus get to Germany?
A Chinese woman who works for the automotive supplier Webasto traveled to a training course at the company’s headquarters in Gauting (Bavaria) on January 21. She came from Shanghai, but had visited her parents in the dangerous region of Wuhan shortly before the trip.
It was only after she returned home on January 23 that she noticed the first symptoms of the disease, went to the doctor and got the shock diagnosis: she is infected with the corona virus! The woman immediately informed the company. But several colleagues had already infected the woman.
First, a Webasto employee (33) from the Starnberg district was tested positive on Monday evening. It was the first known person-to-person infection outside of Asia.
The German had come to the office in the morning despite flu complaints. There his employer informed him about his colleague’s illness and sent him to the hospital.
At 8.30 p.m. it was clear: the family man from the Landsberg am Lech district is the first infected German! His children and wife show no symptoms yet, but are in quarantine for safety.
The patient is now lying in an isolation room at the Munich-Schwabing Clinic. It can only be entered through a vacuum lock. His treating doctor, infectious disease specialist Dr. Clemens Wendtner (54): “The patient is fever-free and responsive. Nevertheless, discharge is not yet an option. ”How long he has to stay there, what course the illness will take – unclear.
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The Bavarian Ministry of Health announced yesterday evening that three other people had been infected with the corona virus. They are all Webasto employees. They also came to the Munich-Schwabing Clinic, where they are medically monitored and isolated.
Overall, the first infected German and his colleague from China had longer contact (more than 15 minutes) with about 40 people.
The day care friends of the children of the sick person are also affected. These contact persons are currently being informed and monitored by the health department. A test is currently underway for some contact persons to determine whether they are infected. The authorities are looking for other people who have had contact with the infected.
“The affected colleagues have to stay at home for seven days,” explains Webasto spokeswoman Nadine Schian. “All business trips to and from China are canceled.” For security reasons, Webasto closed the company headquarters (approx. 1000 employees) until Sunday.
Bundeswehr flies Germans from China
According to BILD information, an Airbus A310 from the Air Force (ID 10 + 23) is to fly from Germany via Shanghai to Wuhan this week from Cologne-Wahn Airport.
Almost 90 Germans who are permanently resident in the Hubei province and who have registered in the Foreign Office’s crisis preparedness list in recent days are collected there. Student Preslava Peshkova (25) is one of the Germans, said yesterday to BILD: “The embassy will organize a meeting on Wednesday and tell us what the situation is.” Upon their return, the passengers are to be quarantined for 14 days.
In a first EU return campaign, 250 French nationals are to be flown out of China to protect against the virus today. Another plane is expected to bring back 100 EU citizens of other nationalities in the next few days.
Even more suspected cases
In Berlin, two supposedly sick people were tested negative yesterday. In Bremen, two people who may be infected are waiting for test results. There are around ten suspected Corona cases in Lower Saxony, all of whom were in China.
All suspected patients are placed on isolation wards until a test result is available. The test only takes around five hours, but so far it can only be carried out in some specially equipped clinics in Germany. A throat swab or sputum is examined.
A hotline has been set up for information on who is particularly at risk, how to protect themselves and how to identify a suspected case: Tel. 0800 84 84 111.
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