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Doctor with Covid-19 dies in Berlin flat after travelling from London

<span>Photograph: Ronald Wittek/EPA</span>
Photograph: Ronald Wittek/EPA

A London-based doctor who ignored orders to self-isolate after showing Covid-19 symptoms has been found dead at his flat near Berlin, causing concern he could have infected other people on his journey from the UK.

The 58-year-old German citizen, who is understood to have worked in Britain as a locum doctor, was told by his employer to put himself into self-isolation on 19 March after developing symptoms associated with the coronavirus, but was not tested.

On 25 March the man instead travelled to Berlin, where he has a close relative and owns a flat in the Babelsberg district of Potsdam, on the outskirts of the capital.

What is Covid-19?

It is caused by a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it has come from animals. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared it a pandemic.

What are the symptoms this coronavirus causes?

According to the WHO, the most common symptoms of Covid-19 are fever, tiredness and a dry cough. Some patients may also have a runny nose, sore throat, nasal congestion and aches and pains or diarrhoea. Some people report losing their sense of taste and/or smell. About 80% of people who get Covid-19 experience a mild case – about as serious as a regular cold – and recover without needing any special treatment.

About one in six people, the WHO says, become seriously ill. The elderly and people with underlying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, or chronic respiratory conditions, are at a greater risk of serious illness from Covid-19.

In the UK, the National health Service (NHS) has identified the specific symptoms to look for as experiencing either:

  • a high temperature - you feel hot to touch on your chest or back

  • a new continuous cough - this means you’ve started coughing repeatedly

As this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are of no use. The antiviral drugs we have against flu will not work, and there is currently no vaccine. Recovery depends on the strength of the immune system.

Should I go to the doctor if I have a cough?

Medical advice varies around the world - with many countries imposing travel bans and lockdowns to try and prevent the spread of the virus. In many place people are being told to stay at home rather than visit a doctor of hospital in person. Check with your local authorities.

In the UK, NHS advice is that anyone with symptoms should stay at home for at least 7 days. If you live with other people, they should stay at home for at least 14 days, to avoid spreading the infection outside the home.

How many people have been affected?

China’s national health commission confirmed human-to-human transmission in January. As of 31 March, more than one million people have been infected in more than 170 countries, according to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

There have been over 50,000 deaths globally. Just over 3,200 of those deaths have occurred in mainland China. Italy has been worst affected, with over 13,900 fatalities, and there have been over 10,000 deaths in Spain. The US now has more confirmed cases than any other country - more than 245,000. Many of those who have died had underlying health conditions, which the coronavirus complicated.

More than 210,000 people are recorded as having recovered from the coronavirus.

Last week the doctor reportedly told his relative he was still experiencing symptoms, which typically include a high temperature and a dry cough. He failed to respond to calls after last Friday, and his body was discovered at his Babelsberg home on Sunday.

A postmortem showed he had suffered from Covid-19.

The case has caused indignation among German officials. “I am outraged,” Potsdam’s mayor, Mike Schubert, told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. “As a doctor he knew the risk of infection. How could he then go on to mingle among the crowds in several countries? The man was acting completely irresponsibly.”

German federal police and their counterparts in the UK have spent the week retracing the doctor’s route from Britain to Germany. It is believed he arrived in Berlin by plane. The only flight between the two capitals on 25 March was on Ryanair, from London Stansted to Berlin Schönefeld.

According to a spokesperson for Berlin’s airports the flight carried 41 passengers. Health authorities in Potsdam are understood to be getting hold of people who may have come into contact with the doctor on his journey.

The man is not understood to be linked to a coronavirus outbreak at Potsdam’s biggest hospital, the Ernst von Bergmann clinic, which has recorded 78 confirmed infections in thepast few days.