Japan confirms 1st coronavirus infection from China

Thailand reports case of coronavirus from China

A flyer of the event

TOKYO, Jan 16, (Agencies): Japan’s health ministry said Thursday a Chinese man who visited Wuhan, central China, has been infected with the new coronavirus, the first confirmed case of infection in Japan amid an outbreak of pneumonia in China.

The man, in his 30s, a resident of Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, developed a fever during his stay in Wuhan on Jan 3, Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry officials told a press conference in Tokyo.

Since last month, Wuhan has been hit by a pneumonia outbreak associated with the new virus, infecting 41 people, including a 61-year-old man who has died.

The Chinese man returned to Japan on Jan 6 and was hospitalized on Jan 10, the ministry officials said, adding he was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday after a recovery.

The man tested positive for the new coronavirus on Wednesday evening in a test conducted by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases.

Most of the confirmed cases in China have been linked to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in central Wuhan. According to the ministry, the man reported that he didn’t visit the seafood market, but he is believed to have been in close contact with a pneumonia patient while he was in China.

Meanwhile, the government set up an information-gathering task force at the crisis management center under the prime minister’s office.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday that it is working with officials in Thailand and China following reports of confirmation of the novel coronavirus in a traveler to from Wuhan to Thailand earlier this month.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, the WHO explained on its Website.

A novel coronavirus is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans, it said, adding they are transmitted between animals and people. Japan’s government said Thursday a man

A flyer of the event Pedestrians wear protective masks as they walk through a shopping district in Tokyo, Jan. 16. Japan’s government said Thursday a man treated for pneumonia after returning from China has tested positive for the new coronavirus identified as a possible cause of an outbreak in the Chinese

city of Wuhan. (AP)

treated for pneumonia after returning from China has tested positive for the new coronavirus identified as a possible cause of an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Symptoms

The man developed a fever and cough on Jan 3 while in Wuhan, returned to Japan on Jan 6, and was hospitalized four days later as the symptoms persisted, with his X-ray image showing signs of pneumonia, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said.

Tests conducted Tuesday found the same coronavirus as had been detected in other patients in the Wuhan outbreak, the ministry said.

The man has since been released from hospital as his condition improved. He was only identified as a man in his 30s in the Kanagawa prefecture, west of Tokyo, and Kyodo News agency says he is Chinese. His family and medical staff who treated him have not been sickened.

Officials in Wuhan said last weekend 41 people had pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus and a 61-year-old man had died – China’s first known death from the virus. The World Health Organization

also has said it was consulting with Thai and Chinese health authorities after a case was reported in Thailand of a Chinese traveler.

Eiji Hinoshita, an official at the ministry’s infectious disease section, told reporters that the man told officials he did not go to the fish market in Wuhan linked to the pneumonia outbreak, but had “close contact” with at least one person with pneumonia symptoms at a place where he stayed during the visit. Ministry officials are checking further the patient’s activity and people he had contact in China and in Japan since his return, Hinoshita said.

The news just ahead of the lunar new year when many Chinese tourists are expected to travel. The ministry is urging those visiting or returning from Wuhan to wear masks and promptly go to medical institutions if they have cough and fever. But officials said the virus is not considered highly contagious and just passing by or talking to patients would not be a concern.

China has sought to play down speculation that it could be a reappearance of the SARS epidemic, which killed hundreds in 2002 and 2003.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some of which cause the common cold. Others found in bats, camels and other animals have evolved to cause more severe illnesses.

Common symptoms include a runny nose, headache, cough and fever. Shortness of breath, chills and body aches are associated with more dangerous kinds of coronaviruses, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

BERLIN:

German researchers said Thursday they have developed the first diagnostic test for a new virus that has emerged in central China.

The virus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan last year and cases have since been reported in Thailand and Japan. Dozens of people in China have been sickened by it and one person with severe underlying conditions has died.

Dr Christian Drosten, the director of the Institute for Virology at Berlin’s Charite hospital, said the test developed by his team will allow labs to reliably diagnose the so-called novel coronavirus “in a very short period of time.”

The test protocol is being made available through the World Health Organization, and laboratories can order a molecule from the German team to compare patient samples with a positive control, he said.

GENEVA:

The UN health agency said Monday that Thai officials have reported that a traveler from the Chinese city of Wuhan has been hospitalized in Thailand with a recently identified new type of coronavirus.

The World Health Organization said Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is consulting with the agency’s emergency committee, which generally decides whether viral outbreaks merit an expanded response from health authorities. WHO said the case was identified on Wednesday, and the person was quickly hospitalized. It said Thai officials had indicated that the person was now recovering.

China says the cause of the Wuhan outbreak remains unknown.