ASIA. Cases of the mysterious coronavirus that originated in Wuhan have been reported outside China for the first time.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest update on the outbreak that a 61-year-old Chinese woman living in Wuhan took a direct flight to Thailand with a tour group on 8 January. She was detected to have an illness by thermal scanners at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and was hospitalised the same day. She is reported to now be in a stable condition in hospital.
Meanwhile, the Japanese Ministry of Health has reported a male patient, who was hospitalised on 10 January, has tested positively for the virus. The patient was discharged yesterday (15 January) after his symptoms subsided.
As reported, Chinese authorities have confirmed the outbreak is not Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), but there is still concern that the spread of the novel coronavirus could impact the global travel industry. Thermal scanners are in place at a number of airports across Asia to detect infected passengers.
As of Tuesday (14 January), 41 suspected cases have tested positively in China. Of these, there has been one fatality, six cases are severe and seven people have been discharged. The others are reported to be in a stable condition.
A spokesperson for the WHO said: “We are still in the early stages of understanding this new vrius, where it comes from and how it affects people.”
The global outbreaks of SARS and MERS came primarily as a result of human-to-human transmission. Chinese authorities have reported there is no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission with this virus, but the WHO said this would require “further investigation”.
Maria Van Kerkhove, acting head of the WHO’s Emerging Diseases Unit, commented: “From the information that we have, it is possible [that] there is limited human-to-human transmission, potentially among families. But it is very clear that we have no sustained human-to-human transmission.”
She added: “The global community is very familiar with what has happened with SARS in the past and this is something that is on our radar that is possible and that we need to prepare ourselves for.”
The WHO added that health authorities should work with the travel sector to provide travellers with information on the coronavirus, but that it would advise against any travel or trade restrictions at the moment. The organisation said it also had no plans to call an emergency committee on the outbreak, but that this could be convened at short notice.
