First coronavirus death outside China recorded in Philippine

First death from coronavirus outside China has been confirmed in Philippine.

A 44-year-old man from Wuhan, China died on Saturday in Manila, almost an hour before the Philippine government made an announcement to bar foreigners from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

The man was believed to have travelled from Wuhan, China to the Philippine on January 21 with a 38-year-old woman whom the Philippines health authorities called his “companion”.

The Philippines Department of Health spokesperson said, “The man travelled to the Philippines from Wuhan, via Hong Kong, with a 38-year-old Chinese woman who also tested positive last week.”

Shortly after the man and woman arrived Philippine, they visited a doctor for “cough and fever” symptoms and were consequently admitted at a hospital in Manila, the capital city.

It was gathered that the man had “pneumonia” and the woman was with “mild cough” and that on Thursday the woman was tested positive for the virus.

While receiving treatment, the man was showing signs of improvement but his condition deteriorated over his last 24 hours.

“In recent days the man was stable and even showed signs of improvement, but his condition rapidly decline over his final 24 hours,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said.

However, the World Health Organization said that the man appeared to have been infected before arriving in the Philippine.

“People have to be calm because the case is not a locally acquired case. It is the first reported death outside China, and that it is from a patient who had come from the epicenter of the outbreak, Wuhan China where the virus particularly originated,” a WHO representative to the Philippine, Rabindra Abeyasinghe stated.

As of the time of the patient’s death, the Chinese government had reported over 300 deaths majorly from Hubei, and about 14, 500 people confirmed with the infection.

In a sincere attempt to take a precautionary measure, the Philippine Department of Health is working hand in hand with Cebu Pacific Airline to tract down those who might have come into contact with the Chinese man and woman, including the passengers from the flights they boarded.