SHANGHAI, February 27. /TASS/. A man who flew from Iran to Shanghai with a connecting flight in Moscow has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, China’s Global Times newspaper wrote on its Twitter page.
According to the report, a patient in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has tested positive for the novel coronavirus. He took a flight from Iran on February 19 and transferred in Moscow the next day, and arrived in Shanghai on February 22.
"The city is seeking people who had close contact with the patient," it wrote.
China’s digital news outlet Pengpai reported citing the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention that the passenger had visited many public places. The center jointly with customs officers, transport services and other agencies is now searching for people who had contacted the man. The authorities are carrying out disinfection measures at the places, which he had visited.
The passenger’s nationality has not been revealed.
A pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously known as 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s city of Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center with a population of 12 million, in late December. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak in China a global health emergency, characterizing it as an epidemic with multiple foci.
Cases of the new coronavirus have also been reported in 38 other countries, including Russia. According to the latest update, the number of confirmed cases of the disease has exceeded 81,400, with 2,771 people killed by this coronavirus. More than 30,300 have recovered.