#14,799
Imported cases of coronavirus are no longer news, as more than 20 countries have already detected in excess of 100 confirmed cases with recent travel to China. And from these imported cases we've seen a small, but growing, number of local transmission of the virus outside of China.
But today we have South Korea's first confirmed travel-related case involving someone who returned from a trip to Thailand on January 19th. (Note: While travel to China is not explicitly ruled out in the statement, it is not mentioned.)The (translated) Korean announcement is brief (see below), but a few additional details can be found in media reports that follow.
New outbreak of new coronavirus in Korea
Created 2020-02-04
Last modified 2020-02-04
Department of Central Defense Response Headquarters
Contact 043-719-9064
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Current outbreaks of new coronaviruses in Korea (1 report as of 10:00 on February 4)
-1 patient (16th) additional confirmation-
□ The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CEO Eun Eun-kyung) said that as of February 4, 20, 10 am, an additional patient was identified as of the previous day.
○ The 16th patient (42-year-old, Korean) entered Korea on January 19 after traveling to Thailand and had symptoms such as chills from the evening of January 25, and he was treated until February 2.
-On February 3, he visited Chonnam National University Hospital and was quarantined to be excluded from the new coronavirus infection.
-Epidemiological investigations and defense measures are currently in progress and will be released as soon as additional information is identified.
Thailand currently reports 19 confirmed cases, 18 of which had recent travel to China (see Thailand MOH: 5 New nCoV Cases - 1 Locally Acquired. The one locally acquired case is reportedly a Thai male who works as a Taxi driver, and had no recent travel to China.
While an epidemiological investigation is still ongoing, and we may yet learn more about this patient's itinerary, for now this appears to be the first imported case from a country outside of China.(Correction: On Saturday South Korea reported a case involving a tour guide who had travel history to Japan and contact with a confirmed case).
South Korean tourist tests positive for novel coronavirus after visiting Thailand - Channel News Asia
Korean woman caught virus in Thailand - Bangkok Post
