First 2 coronavirus deaths reported in Germany

German Authorities have announced the country’s first fatalities connected to the coronavirus outbreak, according to multiple reports.

A health ministry spokesman in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia told The Guardian an 89-year-old woman died in Essen and another patient, whose age was not released, died in the Heinsberg region.

In a statement released to CNN, German health minister Karl-Josef Laumann said the deaths “show that we have to take the situation very seriously.”

“My thoughts are with the relatives,” he said. “I wish the families a lot of strength in this difficult time.”

At least one other German citizen has died of coronavirus, according to CNN. A German national from Hamburg died Sunday while on vacation in Egypt, the news network reported.