Germany has confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus. The patient, a 33-year-old German man from the country's southern Bavarian region, was said to be in a "medically good state."

The Bavarian health authorities said in a press release that the infected man was from Starnberg, a town some 30 kilometers southwest of Munich.

The country's federal minister of health Jens Spahn said on Twitter: "It was expected that the coronavirus would also reach Germany. The case from Bavaria shows that we are well-prepared. The patient has been isolated and is being treated."

He was infected by a colleague from China, who was in the country to host a training session. 

The woman started to feel sick on the plane ride back to China on 23 January. Four days later, on 27 January, the man reported feeling flu-like symptoms and was then tested positive for the virus. 

Officials are checking around 40 people who have been in contact with the two people. 

Spahn added that "the risk to the health of people in Germany from [the coronavirus] remains low." He said that the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's leading public health agency, considers the risk of the novel coronavirus to be low. 

The Institute has also said that this was the first case of 'human-to-human' transmission of the coronavirus outside of China. However, both Japan and Vietnam have reported cases of a person that had not recently traveled to China before becoming infected. 

The Webasto group, the car-products company that employees both patients, said in a statement that they have stopped all work-related travel to and from China for two weeks. 

On Sunday, German news outlet Welt cited Spahn as saying the country was ready to deal with the outbreak.

"Germany is well prepared for a pandemic," he said. "There are clear pandemic plans, regular exercises and the resources to react quickly and effectively."

The news comes the day after the World Health Organization announced that there had been three confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in France. 

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