A 28-year-old Chinese national has been diagnosed with Wuhan Novel Coronavirus in Chiang Mai, the first confirmed case in the north.
The announcement of the first confirmed case was made by the Faculty of Medicine at Chiang Mai University at 6 p.m. last night, Jan. 31. The patient is currently in quarantine at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital in Suthep.
According to Sanook, the patient flew into Chiang Mai International Airport Jan. 18 from Kunming but had been in Wuhan, the center of the virus on Jan. 14. Notably, at the time only people flying in from directly from Wuhan were being screened at the airport.
The patient presented themselves at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital Jan. 21 with a fever and similar flu-like symptoms.
Then the story becomes concerning. The patient was quarantined at the hospital but the first two test results came back negative for coronavirus. The patient is then said to have been moved to a general ward in the hospital.
The patient was still sick as of Jan. 25 and was tested again with the results coming back negative. Forward to Jan. 27, the patient’s health continued to deteriorate and a chest x-ray discovered that they had pneumonia. At this point, the patient was transferred back to quarantine as a precaution. Note that Wuhan Novel Coronavirus presents similarly to the flu but can result in pneumonia. It’s pneumonia that is usually the cause of death.
Further testing took place with a positive result for the coronavirus Jan. 31.
Other patients who were also in the general ward at the time the infected patient was present are currently being tested and observed for coronavirus symptoms. Staff that interacted with the infected patient are being monitored and any that present symptoms will be quarantined as a precaution although none have been found as of the time of writing.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
