BERLIN (Reuters) – A 25-year-old man living in the southern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday after a trip to Milan, the state’s Health Ministry said.
In a statement, the ministry said the man, who had likely become infected during the visit to Italy, had contacted authorities after coming down with flu-like symptoms.
He would be taken later on Tuesday to a hospital, where he would be treated in isolation, the ministry said.
“People in close contact with the patient will be kept in home isolation and be asked about their state of health every day,” it said. “As soon as a contact person develops symptoms, they will also be isolated in hospital.”
The new confirmed case takes to 17 the total number of coronavirus cases in Germany. There have been no deaths.
Separately, newspaper Rheinische Post reported that a married couple in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia had been admitted to hospital in Duesseldorf on suspicion of suffering from the virus. The paper, which did not cite a source, said at least one of them had tested positive.
Car supplier Webasto said last month a Chinese employee had tested positive for the virus upon returning to China following a visit to the company headquarters near Munich. The employee apparently infected several German colleagues during the visit.
The new coronavirus, believed to have originated from illegal wildlife sold in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, has infected some 80,000 people and killed more than 2,600 people, most of them in China.
Neighboring Switzerland confirmed its first case of the coronavirus earlier on Tuesday. Austria also confirmed its first two cases on Tuesday.
Reporting by Thomas Escritt and Paul Carrel; Editing by Alison Williams and Jonathan Oatis