Assessment of Coronavirus Spread in Europe Unaffected by 1st German Case - EU Agency

STOCKHOLM (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th January, 2020) The first confirmed case of coronavirus in Germany does not impact the probability of the disease's spread across Europe, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), an EU agency tasked with combating viral diseases, said on Tuesday.

The first German case has been reported in the state of Bavaria, with the patient being infected by a Chinese woman.

"At this stage of the on-going outbreak in the Hubei province in China, it is likely that there will be more imported cases in Europe. As a consequence, it could be expected to see (limited) local transmission in Europe.

A single detected case in Europe does not change the overall picture for Europe, nor does it change the assessment that there is currently a moderate likelihood of importation of cases of 2019-nCoV to the EU/EEA," the ECDC said in a statement.

The latest strain of coronavirus sprung up in the city of Wuhan in late December 2019, located in the central part of China and has since spread to other countries.

According to the US' Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the number of coronavirus cases across the globe, there are currently 4,473 confirmed cases.