First coronavirus death outside China reported in Philippines

Tourists from Wuhan, China, prepare to return home from Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP pic)

MANILA: A 44-year-old Chinese male from Wuhan died in the Philippines on Feb 1 from the novel coronavirus, the first death recorded outside of China, the World Health Organisation said on Sunday.

The man arrived in the Philippines on Jan 21 accompanying the country’s first confirmed case, a 38-year-old woman, after they had travelled from Wuhan via Hong Kong, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said at a televised briefing in Manila.

He was hospitalised on Jan 25 after experiencing a fever, cough and sore throat, which developed into severe pneumonia.

“This is the first reported death outside China, however we need take into mind it is not a locally acquired case,” WHO’s representative in the Philippines, Rabindra Abeyasinghe, said at the briefing.

“This patient is from the epicentre of this outbreak in Wuhan, China, where they have a very large number of deaths.”

Earlier on Sunday, President Rodrigo Duterte widened his travel ban previously imposed on visitors from Hubei province to all of China, including Hong Kong and Macau, and also prohibited Filipinos from travelling to those areas, according to his spokesman, Salvador Panelo.

Citizens returning from China and its special administrative regions must go into quarantine for 14 days, Panelo said.

“This health event is fast-evolving and fluid,” Duque said at the briefing. “We are continuously recalibrating our plans and efforts as the situation develops.”

The 38-year-old woman is no longer showing symptoms for the coronavirus, the health secretary said.

She had travelled with her companion to the central provinces of Cebu and Dumaguete after arriving from Hong Kong, and was hospitalised with him in Manila on Jan 25.

Four other people in the Philippines are being tested for the virus, Duque said. - FMT