PRAGUE, March 6. /TASS/. The first novel coronavirus case has been recorded in Slovakia, Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said on Friday.

"The first coronavirus infection case has been confirmed in Slovakia," Slovak Radio quotes him as saying. "A 52-year-old patient with that diagnosis has been taken to Bratislava’s University Hospital."

The patient has not left Slovakia recently. He could catch an infection from his son who returned from Italy not so long ago. The young man, however, showed no symptoms of colds, the prime minister said.

A pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously known as 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center, in late December. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, describing it as an epidemic with multiple locations. Besides China, major coronavirus outbreaks have been reported in South Korea, Iran and Italy. More than 80 countries, including Russia, have reported confirmed coronavirus cases.

Over 3,000 people have died in China, which accounts for the majority of novel coronavirus cases, more than 53,500 patients have recovered, while the total number of infected people has exceeded 80,500.

According to the World Health Organization, almost 15,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed outside of China, 267 patients have died.