Coronavirus cases climb to over 180 in Germany

BERLIN (AA) - The number of coronavirus cases in Germany has climbed to 188, the country’s disease control agency the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Tuesday.

Most of the cases were recorded in the northwestern state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where at least 101 patients were infected with the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, Lars Schaade, the vice president of RKI, told a news conference in Berlin.

In Germany’s capital Berlin, number of coronavirus cases rose to three on Monday, including a teacher who recently returned from a trip to Italy.

German authorities temporarily closed two schools in Berlin, the Emanuel-Lasker-Schule and the Berlin Metropolitan School, over fears tied to the virus.

The virus has sounded global alarms, with China, the epicenter of the outbreak, reporting at least 2,945 deaths, and confirmed cases exceeding 80,000.

Outside China, the virus has spread to at least 73 countries, with more than 10,000 infected.

The World Health Organization, which already declared the outbreak an international health emergency, has raised the global coronavirus alert level from high to "very high."