Six more coronavirus cases discovered in Thailand
Thailand has discovered six more patients infected with the novel coronavirus from China – five from Heibei and one from Chongqing, permanent health secretary Sukhum Karnchanapimai confirmed today (January 28).
The six are under quarantine at the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute and awaiting a third lab result.
The first patient from Heibei is a six-year-old child, detected first at an airport. Later, traces of coronavirus were found in four members of his family. The person from Chongqing went to a hospital after suspecting he had contracted the virus.
The recent Wuhan coronavirus situation in China has led to 106 deaths while some 1,500 are severely sick from the infection.
As of Tuesday (January 28), the Chinese government has closed many of its cities and controlled all entry points. They include Guangdong, Hunan, Zhejiang, Hubei (Wuhan is in this province), Tianjin, Anhui, Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Shandong, Yunnan, Guizhou, Fujian, Hebei, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Hainan, Xinjiang, Henan, Heilongjiang, Gansu, and Liaoning.
Some 3,500 are infected and 6,500 to 14,000 people are being closely monitored.
Outside China, 18 countries have reported 59 cases: 14 in Thailand (5 have recovered, 9 being monitored); 3 in Japan (2 have recovered, 1 being monitored); eight in Hong Kong; seven in Russia; five in Australia; four in Malaysia; three each in South Korea, United States, Singapore and France; two each in Taiwan, Macau and Vietnam; one each in Nepal (recovered), Canada, Cambodia, Germany, and Sri Lanka.
The World Health Organisation is in a meeting to assess the situation in China. WHO recently admitted an error in wording its report as “moderate” for global risk. According to the daily report, the risk is “very high” in China and “high” at the regional level.