Germany reports first two deaths from coronavirus

Germany confirmed its first two deaths from the coronavirus on Monday.

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