In Königswinter, the father of the family had become infected “from a work colleague”, who had tested positive for the coronavirus two days previously. For reasons of data protection and to “not to stigmatise anyone”, Meilicke did not want to give detailed information, only that the affected person is fine, has no symptoms and had “acted very prudently” by arranging a test immediately and later drove to the Bonn University Hospital in his own car .

His last contact with his work colleague was on Wednesday last week, after which he had not gone to work. His positive result had been known by the district health authority since Wednesday evening. Since then, the health authorities, but also Königswinter's mayor Peter Wirtz, have been in telephone contact with the man, who is now keeping a detailed diary of with whom he has been in contact since then, in order to clarify the chain of infection as completely as possible. The kindergartens and schools that his children attend have also been informed about the infection.

Meilicke did not want to say which ones these are. At present, the family members are also being tested and the results will be available today, Friday. The head of the department said that information whether the man’s wife is professionally employed is also subject to data protection. The family has been asked to remain in “seclusion”. This is understood to be a sort of mild quarantine. Initially, there was a rumour that the man from Königswinter might have been infected at a company in Endenich, where an employee from Cologne had tested positive. However, Bonn’s deputy city spokesman Marc Hoffmann announced yesterday evening that he worked at a completely different company in Bonn. There, another Corona case has been confirmed, involving an employee from the Bergisches Land. The city of Bonn will provide more details today, Friday.

The proposal of district Administrator Sebastian Schuster’s to convene a crisis committee as a precautionary measure was a complete success, said Health Department head Dieter Schmitz. This will enable all the relevant authorities to take immediate action via the shortest possible route. Meanwhile, a telephone conference took place with all district administrators and mayors of the Cologne administrative district, in order to “better organise ourselves”, said Schuster. He is also in close contact with the President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Professor Lothar H. Wieler, who lives in Oberpleis. He emphasised that the spread of the virus could no longer be stopped, only slowed down. “We are only at the beginning of the epidemic,” said Schuster, but local authority districts and the region are well prepared.

Meilicke is calling for prudence. Those who have symptoms of a cold or flu should first contact their family doctor. Only in the case of severe symptoms or certain contact with a confirmed corona-infected person would a test be justified. Meilicke said that the most severe flu epidemic in ten years is currently rampant. In the past week alone, more than a hundred cases of influenza were reported. According to the head of the health department, only Bonn University Hospital in the region is currently able to carry out laboratory tests in suspected corona virus cases. Another commercial laboratory in Bonn-Mitte will soon be able to perform tests, and a Cologne laboratory will also be able to perform tests from next week.

General practitioners and other clinics will of course be able to take swabs, said Meilicke, who will hold talks today with the Heliosklinik and the GFO clinics in the region about further procedures. The aim is to clarify how ill someone has to be in order to receive clinical care. The RKI would continue to outline its guidelines on this issue.

(Original text: Dylan Cem Akalin, translation John Chandler)