A 44-year-old man in the Philippines died from the Wuhan virus, marking the first coronavirus death outside China since the outbreak first took place in December.
Health officials of the Philippines announced this Sunday that a 44-year-old man who tested positive for the new coronavirus died on Saturday after arriving in the country from Wuhan, the epicentre of the epidemic.
Officials from the health department also said the person was the individual’s companion in the first confirmed case, a 38-year-old woman who arrived in the country on January 21.
Both of them belong to Wuhan, China. Earlier Sunday, officials stated the virus has ruined 304 lives and infected around 14,380 people in China.
“This is the first confirmed case outside China. We must remember that he came from Wuhan, China,” a World Health Organization representative in the Philippines, Dr Rabi Abeyasinghe, said on Twitter.
Officials said the 44-year-old man was taken to the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila on January 25 after showing signs of a fever, sore throat and cough.
After stabilizing in his last few days, he developed severe pneumonia due to bacterial and viral infections. The man’s health, however, worsened continually during his last 24 hours, officials said.
“I would like to say that this is an imported case with no proof of local transmission. We’re currently functioning with the Chinese Embassy to ensure the dignified management of the remains according to national and international criteria to contain the virus,” says the Philippines’ Secretary of Heath Francisco T. Duque III.
Hours before the announcement, the Philippines said it was temporarily excluding non-Filipino travellers from mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, a semiautonomous territory of China, a new union representing healthcare workers announced a strike on Monday to force the city’s authorities to ban travel from mainland China.
Fears in the city mounted after another case was reported, and officials didn’t strongly eradicate the possibility that the infected person, an 80-year-old man, had been infected in Hong Kong.
New Zealand said Sunday they might temporarily deny entry to visitors arriving from or travelling through mainland China for at least two weeks starting Monday.
Residents of New Zealand will be given entry from China but will be required to quarantine themselves for a 14-day period, Jacinda Ardern, the country’s Prime Minister, said.
“Ultimately, this is a public health decision,” Arden said, adding that the restrictions were warning measures to keep New Zealand coronavirus-free and to limit the worldwide outbreak.
In Israel, PM Benjamin Netanyahu called a Sunday meeting of ministers in Jerusalem to make decisions about national preparations to contain the new coronavirus. “Because we estimate that the virus will arrive,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
Along with measures to isolate those infected and treat them for two weeks at home, the country had closed “land crossings, airports and seaports to arrivals from China.
According to the Prime Minister, Israeli citizens in China will be allowed to return.
Australia and the U.S. have also expanded travel restrictions, excluding noncitizens who recently travelled to China.