Germany reports first two deaths due to coronavirus

A Coronavirus clinic sign hangs at the entrance to the Dresden University Hospital in Dresden, Germany, on March 9, 2020. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

BERLIN (REUTERS) - Germany on Monday (March 9) reported its first two confirmed death cases of the coronavirus, local authorities said.

A spokesman for the health ministry in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia said that an 89 year-old woman with coronavirus died in the town of Essen and that another patient died in the highly affected region of Heinsberg.

Germany has so far reported 1,112 cases of the coronavirus, with the large state of North Rhine-Westphalia the most affected region.

Several hundred cases have also been reported in the southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg.

The patient in Essen had tested positive with coronavirus on March 3 after being hospitalised in an already critical condition, local authorities said.

The woman's state of health deteriorated further in the following days and she then died of pneumonia caused by her infection with the coronavirus, they said.

The town of Heinsberg said in a statement it would hold a news conference on the second death case later on Monday.

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