Japan Reports First Death From Coronavirus

Posted on February 13, 2019

The first death in Japan from the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) has been reported by Japan's health ministry. The 80-year-old woman was initially diagnosed with pneomonia and admitted to the hospital on February 1st.

NHK reports that the she test positive for the coronavirus today after dying earlier in the day. She lives Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo. She first visited a hospital on January 22nd for fatigue.

There have also been other cases of local transmission in Japan with no known link to previous cases or China. One of them is a doctor. Health officials will use contact tracing to see if they can track these cases to their origins and find people who have been exposed to the virus.

There are now nearly 50,000 cases worldwide and over 1,300 deaths. Most of the cases are in China but cases have been increasing globally with reports of local transmission from several nations.



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