1ST CORONAVIRUS CASE REPORTED IN WEST ASIA

■ HEALTH OFFICIALS reported what appear to be the first known cases of human-to-human transmission of the virus in Germany, Japan and Vietnam. Japan’s ministry of health, labour and welfare said the first Japanese national — and the sixth person in Japan

Dubai: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said on Wednesday that a Chinese family of four who arrived from Wuhan were infected with the new coronavirus, in the first confirmed cases in the West Asia. The health ministry said that their condition of the family was stable.

Dubai, Jan. 29: The United Arab Emirates announced on Wednesday its first case of the new coronavirus, in a family from Wuhan, in what is thought to be the first confirmed case in the West Asia. “The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention announced a case of the new coronavirus affecting people from one family coming from the city of Wuhan in China,” the state news agency WAM reported, without saying how many were infected.

“The health condition of those affected was stable and under medical monitoring,” it cited the ministry as saying. Gulf airports, including Dubai which is home to one of the world’s biggest aviation hubs, said last week they would screen all passengers arriving from China amid the outbreak of the deadly virus. Confirmed cases have been reported across the Asia Pacific region and in North America and Europe, but the Wuhan family in the UAE appear to be the first in the West Asia. Dubai’s government said Thursday that some 989,000 Chinese tourists visited the glitzy Emirate last year — a number expected to cross the one million mark in 2020.

The UAE health ministry said it has taken “all the necessary precautions” in line with standards approved by the World Health Organisation.

It said that the country’s health system “works very efficiently and that the ministry is closely following the situation in a way that guarantees the health and safety of everyone.”