Germany confirms first case of human-to-human coronavirus
Germany has confirmed that its first case of the deadly coronavirus was the result of human-to-human transmission, the first such case on European soil.
A 33-year-old man caught the disease when he attended a meeting with a Chinese colleague who visited Germany last week, officials said.
According to Andreas Zapf, head of the Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety, the colleague, a woman from Shanghai, “started to feel sick on the flight home on 23 January”.
Officials added that the man in question, who is from Starnberg in Bavaria, is in a good condition, but remains under observation and in isolation.
Germany’s health minister Jens Spahn said the case had demonstrated how well prepared the country’s authorities were for the disease.
He said: “The risk to the health of people in Germany from the new respiratory disease from China remains low”.
As the death toll climbed over 100 this morning Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam announced that the semi-autonomous city would shut transport links to the mainland.
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All cross-border ferry services from the semi-autonomous city to the mainland will be suspended, as will high-speed rail links.
In addition, the number of flights to China will be halved, and no personal travel permits will be issued to Chinese people trying to visit the city.
She also urged all Hong Kong residents to return from the mainland and to remain for two weeks in a bid to stop transmission of the disease.
In addition, companies such as Facebook and HSBC are restricting travel to China. The social media giant has asked employees to halt all non-essential travel to mainland China and asked employees in country to work from home.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we have taken steps to protect the health and safety of our employees,” a company spokesman said.
Europe’s biggest bank, HSBC, banned all staff travel to Chinese-ruled Hong Kong for two weeks and to mainland China until further notice, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.