Thailand finds fourth China coronavirus infection, Macau confirms first case

BANGKOK/HONG KONG — Thailand has quarantined a fourth patient with the new coronavirus including one Thai national, while Macau confirmed its first case of pneumonia linked to outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

Nine people have died from the flu-like coronavirus in China as of Wednesday (Jan 22) with 440 confirmed cases, most in the central city of Wuhan where the virus first appeared late last year.

The Thai patient, a 73-year-old woman, had travelled to Wuhan during the New Year holidays and developed a fever after returning, Thailand's Public Health Ministry said.

She was being monitored in a separate ward in a hospital in Nakhon Pathom, 60 km west of Bangkok, where her condition was gradually improving, it added.

"We can control the situation. There have not been cases of human-to-human transmission in Thailand because we detected the patients as soon as they arrived," Thailand's Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters.

Two other Chinese patients had recovered and been sent home while a third would return once tests showed he was clear of the virus, Mr Anutin added.

Thai police said officials were stepping up screening at airports to look for passengers with high body temperatures, coughs, headaches and trouble breathing.

The Macau case involves a 52-year-old Wuhan businesswoman who reported to hospital on Tuesday, said Macau Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Ao Leong Lu, who vicechairs a committee set up to respond to the virus.

The woman took a high-speed train to the Chinese city of Zhuhai on Jan 19, then a shuttlebus to Macau. She had dinner with two friends, then went to the hotel and spent a long time in casinos. She was in a stable condition in an isolation ward. Her two friends were also being monitored and were in isolation.

Speaking at a news conference in Macau, Mr Ao and other officials said authorities were coordinating with six gaming enterprises to introduce temperature screening machines at all entrances into casinos.

A total of 405 guest entrances and 47 staff entrances have already been provided with portable screening devices and all casino staff had to wear surgical masks. All performers and staff at the events hosted across Macau will be screened.

Entry points into Macau will also have temperature checks and visitors will be asked to fill in a health declaration form. Bus stops, taxi stands and wet markets will be cleaned more frequently.

The tourist-magnet casino industry in Macau, which returned to Chinese rule in 1999, accounts for more than 80 per cent of the revenue in the city of 600,000 people. Macau is a popular Lunar New Year destination for mainland Chinese.

The virus has also spread to other cities including Beijing and Shanghai, as well as the United States, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses named because of the crown-like spikes on their surfaces that cause respiratory illnesses ranging from the common cold to the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars). REUTERS