Coronavirus outbreak: Taiwan confirms 38 more cases of epidemic

Taiwan has reported five more additional cases of novel coronavirus on February 29 taking the total tally to 38, according to a statement from the Ministry of Heath and Welfare. According to the reports, the new cases include three medical staff and a cleaner who had previously came in contact with a person before they tested positive for the coronavirus. The four of them showed symptoms like cough, running nose and fever between February 18 to 25, according to the reports. The fifth new case is a woman in her 60s who toured Dubai, Egypt, and UAE from January 29 to February 21 and developed a sore throat and cough on February 20. 

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Taiwan has reportedly confirmed the first death on the island from the deadly COVID-19 on February 16, making it the fifth fatality outside mainland China since the global coronavirus pandemic. Health Minister of Taiwan, Chen Shih-Chung, told the media that the 61-year-old man was a taxi driver who was suffering from diabetes and hepatitis B and had eventually contracted the Coronavirus. Chen further added that the deceased had not travelled abroad and was presumably infected via human transmission as he was a cab driver whose clients were mainly from Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. One of the family members of the Taiwanese driver has also tested positive to the COVID-19, confirmed the minister.

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More than 80,000 infected 

According to media reports, the new coronavirus has infected more than 80,000 people globally since it first broke out in December last year. The United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) had earlier said that the virus has already spread to more than 50 countries, including as far as western Europe. As per reports, the coronavirus originated from a seafood market in China's Wuhan city, the believed epicentre of the disease. Media reports also stated that animals were being traded illegally in the market from where the disease originated.

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