Published 19:51 IST, February 21st 2020
Israel confirms first case of Coronavirus as cruise ship returnee tested positive
Health Ministry of Israel reported its first confirmed case of the coronavirus on Friday. The patient was one of the 11 travellers who returned to Jewish state.
Health Ministry of Israel reported its first confirmed case of the Coronavirus on Friday. The patient was one of the 11 travellers who returned to the Jewish state after being quarantined for two weeks on cruise ship Diamond Princess. Meanwhile, the deadly virus has reportedly infected over 76,600 and killed at least 2,200 people with 11 outside mainland China.
10 others detected negative
The plane carrying all the 11 patients landed on Ben Gurien Airport where travellers were put in vans and taken to Sheba Medical centre. Soon after arriving in the hospital, they gave a breath test to determine whether they are infected or not. However, the test result showed positive results for a woman and negative for all other ten citizens. According to reports, all the 11 will be quarantined for the next 14 days. The Israeli Health ministry later released a public statement which read,
An examination at the Health Ministry’s main laboratory found that one of the passengers tested positive. The lab is continuing to confirm the test results. The patient is in quarantine and under the supervision and this is not an infection that occurred in Israel.
The number of infections linked to the religious sect in Daegu increased and South Korea reportedly confirmed 48 more cases on February 21. According to international media reports, 39 of the new cases confirmed were connected to the Church of Jesus in Daegu and the number of country's overall figure spiked to 204. The virus outbreak also led to the residents staying indoors, leaving the streets of the fourth-largest city abandoned.
Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin has also reportedly requested residents to stay indoors. While speaking to the media outlet, Kwon also said that the city was in an 'unprecedented crisis' and that is why the authorities have asked them to stay at home isolated from their families. A resident further said that the city looks like someone dropped a bomb in the middle of the city and it looks like a 'zombie apocalypse'.
Updated 19:51 IST, February 21st 2020