First coronavirus patient discharged from hospital
PREAH Sihanouk Provincial Hall spokesman Kheang Phearum said on Monday that the Chinese man who contracted the 2019 Novel Coronavirus was allowed to leave the Preah Sihanouk Provincial Referral Hospital after recovering from it.
Jia Jianhua, 60, will leave Cambodia for China on Tuesday.
Phearum said that having left the hospital on Monday afternoon, the man and his family stayed at a hotel in Sihanoukville.
“He goes back on Tuesday. If you want to know for sure, please ask a Ministry of Health spokesman because the Ministry of Health is the one helping him return to China,” he said.
Ministry spokesperson Or Vandine said it only has to check and treat the disease. Returning to China or staying in the Kingdom is Jia’s right.
“The hospital must give check-ups, treatment and care to patients. He has now recovered. We allowed Jia to leave the hospital. I can’t provide more details than this. So, it is up to him and it is his right if he wants to go back. It is his human right,” she said.
Jia travelled from Wuhan city in China, where the outbreak originated, to Sihanoukville with three family members. Their aeroplane landed at the Sihanoukville international airport on January 23.
On January 25, Jia developed a high fever, runny nose, and other flu-like symptoms, and on January 27, Cambodian experts confirmed he had contracted the virus. His family members tested negative.
On Monday, Minister of Health Mam Bun Heng, Minister of Environment Say Sam Al and the director of the World Health Organisation in Cambodia visited Jia and his family after he recovered from the virus.
He was allowed to leave the hospital after a third test by Institut Pasteur du Cambodge came back negative. He had been in quarantine for 14 days.
The World Health Organisation ( WHO) in Cambodia said the virus is a common enemy and expressed gratitude for the work carried out by the Ministry of Health since the Chinese patient arrived in the Kingdom infected with it.
The WHO said all countries in the world have to continue the fight against the virus.