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First cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the WHO European Region, 24 January to 21 February 2020
- Gianfranco Spiteri1 , James Fielding2 , Michaela Diercke3 , Christine Campese4 , Vincent Enouf5 , Alexandre Gaymard6 , Antonino Bella7 , Paola Sognamiglio8 , Maria José Sierra Moros9 , Antonio Nicolau Riutort10 , Yulia V. Demina11 , Romain Mahieu12 , Markku Broas13 , Malin Bengnér14 , Silke Buda3 , Julia Schilling3 , Laurent Filleul15 , Agnès Lepoutre16 , Christine Saura17 , Alexandra Mailles4 , Daniel Levy-Bruhl4 , Bruno Coignard4 , Sibylle Bernard-Stoecklin4 , Sylvie Behillil5 , Sylvie van der Werf5 , Martine Valette6 , Bruno Lina6 , Flavia Riccardo7 , Emanuele Nicastri8 , Inmaculada Casas18 , Amparo Larrauri19 , Magdalena Salom Castell20 , Francisco Pozo18 , Rinat A. Maksyutov21 , Charlotte Martin22 , Marc Van Ranst23 , Nathalie Bossuyt24 , Lotta Siira25 , Jussi Sane26 , Karin Tegmark-Wisell27 , Maria Palmérus28 , Eeva K. Broberg1 , Julien Beauté1 , Pernille Jorgensen2 , Nick Bundle1 , Dmitriy Pereyaslov2 , Cornelia Adlhoch1 , Jukka Pukkila2 , Richard Pebody2 , Sonja Olsen2,29 , Bruno Christian Ciancio1,29
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View Affiliations Hide AffiliationsAffiliations: 1 European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Stockholm, Sweden 2 World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark 3 Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany 4 Santé Publique France – Direction des maladies infectieuses, Saint-Maurice, France 5 Centre national de référence Virus des infections respiratoires, dont la grippe, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France 6 Centre national de référence Virus des infections respiratoires, dont la grippe, Hospices civils de Lyon, Lyon, France 7 Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome, Italy 8 Istituto Nazionale Malattie Infettive Lazzaro Spallanzani, Rome, Italy 9 Coordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies. Spanish Ministry of Health, Madrid, Spain 10 Servicio de Epidemiología, Dirección General de Salut Pública, Islas Baleares, Spain 11 Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-being (Rospotrebnadzor), Moscow, Russia 12 Department of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Common Community Commission, Brussels-Capital Region, Brussels, Belgium 13 Chief Physician, Infection control unit, Lapland Hospital District, Rovaniemi, Finland 14 County Medical Officer, Jönköping Region, Jönköping, Sweden 15 Santé publique France – Direction des régions, Cellule régionale Nouvelle Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France 16 Santé publique France – Direction des régions, Cellule régionale Ile-de-France, Paris, France 17 Santé publique France – Direction des régions, Cellule régionale Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Lyon, France 18 National Centre for Microbiology, WHO-National Influenza Centre, Institute of Health Carlos III. Madrid, Spain 19 National Centre of Epidemiology, CIBERESP, Institute of Health Carlos III. Madrid, Spain 20 Dirección General de Salut Pública, Islas Baleares, Spain 21 State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology “Vector”, Rospotrebnadzor, Moscow, Russia 22 St. Pierre Hospital, Brussels, Belgium 23 Laboratory of Clinical Virology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rega Institute, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium 24 Epidemiology of infectious diseases, Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium 25 Expert Microbiology Unit, Department of Health Security, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Helsinki, Finland 26 Infectious Disease Control and Vaccinations Unit, Department of Health Security, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Helsinki, Finland 27 Public Health Agency of Sweden, Solna, Sweden 28 Jönköping Region, Jönköping, Sweden 29 These authors have contributed equally to the manuscriptGianfranco SpiteriGianfranco.spiteri ecdc.europa.eu
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Citation style for this article: Spiteri Gianfranco, Fielding James, Diercke Michaela, Campese Christine, Enouf Vincent, Gaymard Alexandre, Bella Antonino, Sognamiglio Paola, Sierra Moros Maria José, Riutort Antonio Nicolau, Demina Yulia V., Mahieu Romain, Broas Markku, Bengnér Malin, Buda Silke, Schilling Julia, Filleul Laurent, Lepoutre Agnès, Saura Christine, Mailles Alexandra, Levy-Bruhl Daniel, Coignard Bruno, Bernard-Stoecklin Sibylle, Behillil Sylvie, van der Werf Sylvie, Valette Martine, Lina Bruno, Riccardo Flavia, Nicastri Emanuele, Casas Inmaculada, Larrauri Amparo, Salom Castell Magdalena , Pozo Francisco, Maksyutov Rinat A., Martin Charlotte, Van Ranst Marc, Bossuyt Nathalie, Siira Lotta, Sane Jussi, Tegmark-Wisell Karin, Palmérus Maria, Broberg Eeva K., Beauté Julien, Jorgensen Pernille, Bundle Nick, Pereyaslov Dmitriy, Adlhoch Cornelia, Pukkila Jukka, Pebody Richard, Olsen Sonja, Ciancio Bruno Christian. First cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the WHO European Region, 24 January to 21 February 2020. Euro Surveill. 2020;25(9):pii=2000178. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.9.2000178 Received: 24 Feb 2020; Accepted: 05 Mar 2020
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Abstract
In the WHO European Region, COVID-19 surveillance was implemented 27 January 2020. We detail the first European cases. As at 21 February, nine European countries reported 47 cases. Among 38 cases studied, 21 were linked to two clusters in Germany and France, 14 were infected in China. Median case age was 42 years; 25 were male. Late detection of the clusters’ index cases delayed isolation of further local cases. As at 5 March, there were 4,250 cases.
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