German authorities say man with virus in critical condition

Authorities in western Germany said Wednesday that a man who contracted COVID-19 is in critical condition and has been taken to a specialist hospital in Duesseldorf.

The health ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia state said the man was first hospitalized Monday with serious pneumonia in the town of Erkelenz near the Dutch border.

He was then diagnosed with the new virus and isolated in an intensive care unit before being transported to Duesseldorf's University Hospital.

The man's wife was also isolated on suspicion of contracting the virus after showing symptoms.

German news agency reported that the man was in his 40s and had a pre-existing condition.

Dutch health officials were Wednesday tracing the movements of a German man who tested positive for the new virus after learning that he visited the southern province of Limburg last week.

The national public heath institute tweeted that the local health authority is seeking to trace anybody who came into contact with the man.

"If these contacts develop symptoms, they will be isolated and tested," the institute said late Tuesday.

The Netherlands hasn't registered any confirmed cases of the new coronavirus.