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German fan company Ziehl-Abegg has taken steps to support employees following the outbreak of the Coronavirus which has killed 106 people in China and infected 4,520 globally.

The company’s CEO, Peter Fenkl, made the decision last week to cancel all flights to and from China.

"The health of our employees is more important than any financial benefit to the company,” Fenkl said.

Ziehl-Abegg’s German headquarters and its subsidiary in Japan has sent thousands of masks to its production facility in China after Chinese employees reported masks had sold out.

Ziehl-Abegg China also sent a request to its German headquarters to send more than 70 fans to the new hospital in Wuhan within a couple of days.

Jason Liu, managing director of Ziehl-Abegg China praised the Chinese government for responding so quickly to the crisis. 

"It is great that the Chinese government reacted quickly and is working to build a hospital in six days,” Liu said.

“Staff are working hard to support people in Wuhan and produce fans for the new hospital.”

Liu said the company is working on special fans specifically for hospitals.
 
The electric drive is a high efficient EC motor, to save energy. The impeller is produced by a special composite material, invented by Ziehl-Abegg.

“The fan is anti-bacterial, without any possibility of corrosion and without any outgassing plastic,” Liu said.

If the necessary parts for fans cannot be delivered to the production facility in China, steps will be taken to use other Ziehl-Abegg production facilities, according to Steffen Sinn, area sales manager at Ziehl-Abegg Germany.  
 
Germany has reported its first case of the virus, as the United States and Canada upgraded travel warnings to advise their citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to China.

More than 56 million people in almost 20 Chinese cities - including Wuhan, capital of Hubei province and the epicentre of the virus - have been prevented from travelling in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus during the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, traditionally China's busiest travel season.

Five people are being treated in Australian hospitals for the virus, with four of those cases in NSW alone.