South Korean woman tests positive for coronavirus after Thailand visit
- The 42-year-old woman developed chills and other symptoms from January 25, about a week after she returned from Thailand
- Meanwhile, South Korean doctors say a coronavirus patient has apparently recovered after taking a combination of flu and HIV drugs
The woman is the first foreign tourist reported to have been infected after a visit to Thailand.
The KCDC’s statement did not explicitly rule out a visit to China by the patient. KCDC’s director Jeong Eun-kyeong declined to comment further.
Tanarak Plipat, deputy director general of the Thai Department of Disease Control, said the woman could have contracted the virus in Thailand.
“It’s possible because the virus is already spreading domestically in Thailand,” Tanarak said.
The National Medical Centre said the nation’s second coronavirus patient, a 55-year-old Korean man who had returned home after visiting Wuhan on January 22, had completely recovered from the disease.
“He has already been cured of the disease. He is ready to be discharged from hospital this week,” Jung Ki-hyun, the head of the centre, was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.
But Jung said it was hard to establish which among the drugs used were most effective.
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“It is true that HIV treatment drugs were used for the patient, but it must be noted that scientific evidence has not yet been accumulated to determine whether HIV treatment drugs are effective against the novel coronavirus,” Jung said.
“Methods of treatment vary for different hospitals. We will form a clinical committee of medical personnel to share treatment methods information,” he added.
Gilead said the drug was approved for use on compassionate grounds. It was not licensed or approved anywhere in the world, and had not been demonstrated to be safe or effective for any use, it said.
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Back in South Korea, the government announced on Tuesday that traders who hoard face masks and other products used to battle coronavirus will face up to two years in prison, following what the economy and finance ministry described as “sharp increases in prices” caused by “hoarding”.
From Wednesday, sellers who hoard more than one and a half times their average monthly sales volume will face a maximum sentence of two years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won (US$42,000).
That news followed on the heels of the country beginning to bar entry to non-Korean travellers coming from or through China’s Hubei province.
President Moon Jae-in has called on South Korea to work with China to overcome the epidemic, stressing the need to support one’s neighbour “in times of difficulties”.
But members from the conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party have condemned the government’s measures as insufficient, calling for a wider entry ban on travellers to and from China.
They also accused Moon of “fawning over Beijing” ahead of an expected visit to Seoul by President Xi Jinping this spring.
Additional reporting by AFP, Bloomberg, Reuters
