One person has died from pneumonia in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, China, the city health authorities said on Saturday.
It appears to be the first lethal case in a previously unknown pneumonia outbreak that rocked the city and that is now identified as a new form of coronavirus.
#BREAKING: The new mystery coronavirus in the #WuhanPneumonia outbreak has already resulted in the first recorded death, say @now_News as well as other Hong Kong media outlets. pic.twitter.com/n8QlHWVCvw
— Ezra Cheung (@ezracheungtoto) January 11, 2020
"The national, provincial and municipal expert groups comprehensively judged the clinical manifestations, epidemiological history, and laboratory test results of patients admitted to the hospital for treatment, and 41 cases of pneumonia with a new coronavirus infection were initially diagnosed, of which two were discharged, seven cases were severe and one died. The remaining patients were in stable condition", Wuhan health authorities said in a report.
Earlier on Sunday, local authorities in Wuhan said the city was dealing with more than 40 cases of people with pneumonia symptoms since 31 December 2019, some of them were in critical condition.
The outbreak triggered fears on social media that the nation might be experiencing a return of the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus. In 2002-2003 the SARS coronavirus epidemic claimed the lives of more than 600 people.
Experts from the central Chinese National Health Commission said the outbreak in Wuhan might have begun in a seafood market.
