The 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic was confirmed to have been transmitted to Germany on 27 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Bavaria. The majority of the COVID-19 cases in January and early February originated from the headquarters of a car parts manufacturer in Bavaria and, seemingly, from there to Northern Italy, where the company has offices, based on phylogenetic analysis of viral DNA. Later, new clusters were introduced by travellers from Italy, China and Iran. German disease and epidemic control is advised by the Robert Koch Institute according to a national pandemic plan. The outbreaks were first managed in a containment stage, which attempted to minimise the expansion of clusters. Since 13 March the pandemic is managed in the protection stage with German states mandating school and kindergarten closures, delaying academic semesters and prohibiting visits to nursing homes to protect the elderly.