Coronavirus Death in Philippines Is First Fatality Outside China
First Person Outside of China Dies From Virus in Philippines
(Bloomberg) -- 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 Organization 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 traveled from Wuhan via Hong Kong, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said at a televised briefing in Manila. He was hospitalized 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 epicenter 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 traveling 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 traveled with her companion to the central provinces of Cebu and Dumaguete after arriving from Hong Kong, and was hospitalized with him in Manila on Jan 25.
Four other people in the Philippines are being tested for the virus, Duque said.
--With assistance from Siegfrid Alegado, Clarissa Batino and Andreo Calonzo.
To contact the reporters on this story: Claire Jiao in Manila at cjiao5@bloomberg.net;Derek Wallbank in Singapore at dwallbank@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Stanley James, James Mayger
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.