Man dies from coronavirus in Philippines
A 44-year-old Chinese man has died in Manila hospital where he developed severe pneumonia, after travelling to the Philippines from the city of Wuhan., first fatality outside China.
He was infected before arriving in the Philippines, according to the World Heath Organisation (WHO).
Over 325 people have died in the outbreak so far and 15, 000 people have been infected overtaking Sars epidemic which spread in more than two dozen country
The US, Australia and several other countries including New Zealand, Russia, Japan, Pakistan, Italy, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea and Singapore have barred the arrival of foreigners from China and are requiring their own citizens to be quarantined. Russia has closed its long border with China in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
The man travelled to the Philippines from Wuhan, via Hong Kong with a 38-year-old Chinese woman who also tested positive last week the Philippines Department of Health said.
Philippines has announced it would immediately halt the arrivals of any foreign travellers from China.
The Huoshenshan Hospital which has 1, 000 beds was built in just 8 days –is one of two dedicated facilities that are being constructed to help to tackle the outbreak.
Wuhan is in lockdown and other major cities across the country have suspended non-essential business. The mayor of Huanggang – a city of 6 million people to the east of Wuhan has warned the number of cases there is set to spike in the coming days . Hubei officials have extended the Lunar New Year holiday to 13 February and said that marriage registrations would be suspended in an effort to discourage public gatherings.
Hospital workers in Hong Kong have voted to go on strike from Monday unless the territory’s border with mainland China is completely closed, but the Hong Kong government refused to do so, citing WHO recommendations to introduce screening measures at borders instead.
India had evacuated 300 citizens form Wuhan and about 100 Germans have been flown home, while Russia and Thailand are due to evacuate citizens from Wuhan and Hubei province in the next few days.
Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that cause diseases in mammals, birds and humans and cause respiratory infections which are typically mild including common cold and the current outbreak can be lethal.
The virus appears to have originated from a Wuhan seafood market where wild animals including marmots, birds, rabbits, bats and snakes are traded illegally. Coronaviruses are known to jump from animals to humans and the first group primarily made up of stallholders from the seafood market contracted it from contact with animals. The Wuhan market was shut down for inspection and cleaning on January 1, 2020.
The list of countries that have confirmed infections includes Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, Malaysia, Macau, Russia, France, United States, South Korea, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, India, Philippines, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Finland, Sweden and Spain.