Spiteri, GianfrancoFielding, JamesDiercke, MichaelaCampese, ChristineEnouf, VincentGaymard, AlexandreBella, AntoninoSognamiglio, PaolaSierra Moros, María JoséRiutort, Antonio NicolauDemina, Yulia VMahieu, RomainBroas, MarkkuBengnér, MalinBuda, SilkeSchilling, JuliaFilleul, LaurentLepoutre, AgnèsSaura, ChristineMailles, AlexandraLevy-Bruhl, DanielCoignard, BrunoBernard-Stoecklin, SibylleBehillil, Sylvievan der Werf, SylvieValette, MartineLina, BrunoRiccardo, FlaviaNicastri, EmanueleCasas Flecha, InmaculadaLarrauri, AmparoSalom Castell, MagdalenaPozo Sanchez, FranciscoMaksyutov, Rinat AMartin, CharlotteVan Ranst, MarcBossuyt, NathalieSiira, LottaSane, JussiTegmark-Wisell, KarinPalmérus, MariaBroberg, Eeva KBeauté, JulienJorgensen, PernilleBundle, NickPereyaslov, DmitriyAdlhoch, CorneliaPukkila, JukkaPebody, RichardOlsen, SonjaCiancio, Bruno Christian2020-03-182020-03-182020-03Euro Surveill. 2020 Mar;25(9):20001781560-7917http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12105/9281In the WHO European Region, COVID-19 surveillance was implemented 27 January 2020. We detail the first European cases. As at 21 February, nine European countries reported 47 cases. Among 38 cases studied, 21 were linked to two clusters in Germany and France, 14 were infected in China. Median case age was 42 years; 25 were male. Late detection of the clusters' index cases delayed isolation of further local cases. As at 5 March, there were 4,250 cases.engVoRhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/COVID-19Novel coronavirusSARSSARS-CoV-2Coronavirus disease 2019Atribución 4.0 Internacional3215632725910.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.9.20001781560-7917Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletinopen access