China reports first death from new coronavirus
Print Edition
A 61-year-old man has become the first person to die in China from a respiratory illness believed caused by a new virus.
Forty-one people with pneumonia-like symptoms have so far been diagnosed with the new virus in Wuhan, with one of the victims dying on Thursday, the central Chinese city’s health commission said on its website on Saturday.
Seven others remained in serious condition, two were discharged from treatment, and the rest were stable, it added. No new cases have been detected since January 3.
A total of 739 close contacts, 419 of which are medical staff, have been placed under medical observation and no related cases were found, the commission said, suggesting that it isn’t easily transmittable between humans.
The patients’ condition and epidemic situation is currently controllable, said Wang Guangfa, a member of the national medical expert team dealing with the situation. The proportion of severe cases is similar to that among common pneumonia cases, Wang noted.
The Wuhan health commission said the man who died had purchased goods from a meat and seafood market in the city identified by authorities as the center of the outbreak. The market was closed on January 1.
The commission said the man also suffered from abdominal tumors and chronic liver disease and had been a frequent customer at the market.
Chinese scientists investigating the outbreak said last week they believe the pathogen is a previously unknown type of coronavirus, a broad family ranging from the common cold to more serious illnesses like severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which killed hundreds of people after an outbreak in China in 2002 and 2003.
The World Health Organization said on Thursday it was not recommending any specific measures for travellers or restrictions on trade with China.
China has strong public health capacities and resources to respond and manage respiratory disease outbreaks, WHO said in a statement. In addition to treating the patients in care and isolating new cases as they may be identified, public health officials remain focused on continued contact tracing, environmental assessments, and investigations to identify the pathogen causing the outbreak.
China will share with the WHO information on the genome sequence of a new-type coronavirus detected in the viral pneumonia cases to safeguard global health security, the National Health Commission said on Saturday.
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