Shanghai Is Looking Into Coronavirus Case With No Apparent Hubei Link
Xia Ruirui
DATE:  Feb 06 2020
/ SOURCE:  yicai
Shanghai Is Looking Into Coronavirus Case With No Apparent Hubei Link Shanghai Is Looking Into Coronavirus Case With No Apparent Hubei Link

(Yicai Global) Feb. 5 -- Shanghai has confirmed a novel coronavirus infection in a person with no history of exposure to Hubei, the Chinese province at the epicenter of the epidemic, nor any contact with people from there, and will look further into the case, the Shanghai Health Commission said.

The patient seems to have no history of living and traveling in Hubei or contact with people from the province, Zheng Jin, a spokeswoman for the commission, said at a press conference today. There were two similar cases before, she said, but it was possible to trace the origins of those infections back to Hubei with the patients' help.

Shanghai is still in the first wave of imported cases, but as people return to the city after the Chinese New Year holiday, the second wave is coming, Wu Fan, deputy dean of the Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, told reporters.

The first difficulty in prevention and control is that with people returning to the city, the population influx is huge, especially posing a challenge for respiratory infection control. The second difficulty is that not only key areas but also other regions are facing increased numbers of imported cases, so prevention of such cases is very difficult, she added.

Ten more confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in Shanghai as of noon today, bringing the total to 243, the health commission said, adding that three more patients have fully recovered and were released from hospital today. This brings the number of people discharged to 15 so far.

Of those affected, one has died, 16 remain in a critical state and 211 are in stable condition. There are still 237 suspected cases undergoing further tests while 591 suspected cases have been cleared, the commission said.

Shanghai has disinfected 13,000 communities and 790 farmers' markets, Zheng said, adding that with the support of the Shanghai Communications Administration, the health commission has sent text messages on disease control and prevention through the country's three main telecoms providers: China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.

Editor: Peter Thomas

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Keywords:   Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia