China coronavirus: first cases confirmed in Europe and South Asia, second US patient falls sick with disease
- Public health officials verify the first infections in France and Nepal
- A woman in her 60s who had recently travelled to Chicago from Wuhan is second confirmed case in US
Europe’s first cases of the Wuhan coronavirus were confirmed in France on Friday, while Nepalese authorities announced the first infection in South Asia. A second case in the US was also confirmed as the global spread of the deadly pneumonia-like illness continued.
French health authorities have identified three cases in France: two patients were hospitalised in Paris and the other in the southwestern city of Bordeaux.
French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said the Bordeaux patient, aged 48, had returned two days earlier from a trip to China that included a stop in Wuhan, the epicentre of the contagion.
A Nepali student who had returned home for the Lunar New Year holiday from school in Wuhan tested positive for the illness after “confirmation from the WHO Collaborating Centre in Hong Kong”, Reuters reported, citing a statement from Nepal’s Ministry of Health and Population.
The US patient, a woman in her 60s, had travelled to Wuhan in late December and returned on January 13, said Dr Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.
“The patient is clinically doing well, is in stable condition, and remains hospitalised primarily for infection control,” Arwady said. “She was not symptomatic when flying, and based on what we know now about this virus our concerns for transmission before symptoms show up is low, so that is reassuring.”