An EU official has tested positive for coronavirus in Brussels, a spokeswoman said today, in the first case to strike the bloc's authorities.
'We have confirmation of the case,' Dana Spinant said.
According to news website Euractiv, the male official worked at the European Defence Agency and had recently returned from Italy.
The man is believed to have had a four-hour meeting with 30 other EU officials last week following his trip to Italy.
He had started feeling sick on Saturday, it is reported, and was subsequently tested by medics who confirmed he had been infected with coronavirus.
All meetings at EDA premises have reportedly been cancelled, with at least one other person at the meeting already being tested.
Others who attended the meeting have since met with further EU officials and travelled elsewhere, it is feared.
Belgium has confirmed 13 cases of the virus so far. Belgian media today reported the first case which had been transmitted on Belgian soil, rather than brought home from abroad.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said earlier this week the EU's disease prevention agency ECDC had raised the risk level 'from moderate to high'.
'In other words, the virus continues to spread,' she told reporters.
To coordinate the EU reaction to the outbreak, EU health ministers will gather in Brussels on Friday for an extraordinary meeting, the second this year to address the coronavirus crisis.
The health council could be held in parallel with an extraordinary meeting of EU migration ministers, an official said.
EU experts have so far agreed that turning people potentially infected with the virus back at borders could help spread the disease, but this position is subject to weekly reviews.
Closing Schengen's internal borders on health grounds would be unprecedented.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
