Authorities in Sri Lanka on Monday said the country has confirmed the first case new virus from China. The news was confirmed after a person was found infected with coronavirus. The patient is a Chinese woman in her 40s who arrived in Sri Lanka last week as a tourist from China’s Hubei province, said Dr. Sudath Samaraweera, chief epidemiologist of the country’s health ministry.
The woman was suffering from a fever when she was admitted Saturday to the island nation’s Infectious Disease Hospital, a state-run facility that treats people suffering from potentially deadly infectious diseases.
Sri Lanka became a major travel destination for Chinese tourists in recent years. Many Chinese nationals also work on Chinese-funded infrastructure projects — including a seaport, port city and highways.
The first case of coronavirus was also confirmed in Germany's southern state of Bavaria on Monday, state's Heath Ministry announced, adding that the risk for the Bavarian population to be infected with the new type of virus is currently low.
The infected person, who hails from Starnberg district, is "clinically in a good condition" and is being monitored in an isolated ward, the ministry said in a statement.
Thousands of people have been sickened in China by the new virus and scores of people have died.
Coronavirus outbreak: US advises citizens to 'reconsider travel' to China
Meanwhile, the United States on Monday raised its travel advisory for China to Level 3, advising its citizens to "reconsider travel" due to threats from coronavirus outbreak that has claimed the lives of more than 80 people in the Asian country.
"Reconsider travel to China due to novel coronavirus first identified in Wuhan, China. Some areas have increased risk," the advisory issued by US State Department read.
Last week, the State Department had issued a Level 4 advisory for Hubei Province, whose capital is Wuhan, a Chinese city of more than 11 million people where the first case of coronavirus was reported.
Health authorities around the world are taking action to prevent a global pandemic as the virus continues to spread, with cases reported in Australia, France, the United States and several Asian countries besides China.
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