Germany recorded its first two coronavirus deaths on Monday, as the authorities near Berlin imposed a mass quarantine in an attempt to slow the outbreak. Both deaths occurred in the western state of North Rhine Westphalia, which has been the worst hit so far. The first victim was an 89-year-old woman in the city of Essen, who was confirmed to have the coronavirus last week. Also on Monday, a 78-year-old man with pre-existing health conditions died in a hospital in the district of Heinsberg after contracting the virus. After a suspected coronavirus case much further east in the state of Brandenburg, neighbouring Berlin, up to 5,000 people were in home quarantine, a local official told dpa. The Robert Koch Institute, the official disease control institute, reported that Germany had 1,112 confirmed infections.
