A man in Brisbane is being tested following suspicion that he was affected by the coronavirus after returning from China with a respiratory illness.
Queensland Chief Health Officer, Jeannette Young, said the man had recently visited his family in the city of Wuhan, the same region in China where the coronavirus broke out in December last year. The man was being held in isolation inside his home while he awaited his test results, which will be known in a couple of days, Dr Young said.
Since Chinese medical experts have also confirmed the virus, which has so far killed three people, could be spread from human to human, the Queensland Health Office has taken the step.
Zhong Nanshan, head of the team set up by China’s National Health Commission to investigate the pneumonia-like virus, said that at least two cases had been spread from person to person and medical staff had also been infected. At least two people have become infected in recent days, despite living hundreds of kilometres away from Wuhan.
As per ‘The Sun’ news channel based in UK, a British tourist in a Phuket hospital is also being tested for the virus after showing similar symptoms.
So far, it’s been confirmed that three travellers – two now in Thailand and one in Japan – who visited Wuhan have been infected by the virus.
