Coronavirus: Two More Webasto Employees Infected and Diseased

Stockdorf / Munich – January 31, 2020 – At the automotive supplier Webasto, two more employees are infected with the coronavirus. These are a German and a Chinese colleague. This increased the total number of affected employees to seven, five German and two Chinese. Before they became ill, both colleagues who have now tested positive were in contact with those already known personally. 122 Webasto employees tested this week have not been infected with the virus. A few test results are still pending.

Both newly infected Webasto employees had close exchange last week with one or more of the five colleagues who tested positive at the beginning of the week. All seven were together in several longer meetings at the headquarters in Stockdorf. "We are in exchange with all our affected employees. The two colleagues who have now been tested positive are under inpatient treatment in clinics in the Traunstein or respectively Shanghai districts. We wish them and their families all the best and a soon recovery," said Holger Engelmann, Chairman of the Management Board of the Webasto Group.

Together with the responsible authorities, Webasto has now expanded Contact Group 1 according to the definition of the Robert Koch Institute, to include the persons with whom the two now ill colleagues had close contact. These were tested today. This increased the total number of Webasto employees checked centrally at Stockdorf for coronavirus infection to 130. 

Due to reactions in the cities and communities where Webasto employees live, Engelmann appeals to the citizens to react calmly: "We are receiving more and more news from employees that they and their families, who are not part of the risk group, are refused by institutions, companies or shops if it becomes known that they work for Webasto. We understand that the current situation is uncertain and also kind of frightening, but this is an enormous burden for the families of our employees." Engelmann also askes leaders of educational and daycare facilities to contact the responsible ministry of culture or health to find out how to deal with the current situation.

Webasto's headquarters in Stockdorf will remain closed up to an including next Monday. The company is preparing for employees to return to their workplaces on Tuesday, February 4, 2020. According to the responsible authorities, this is without risk.