Taiwan authorities reports one new Coronavirus case, issues travel alert

Taiwan's Ministry of Health and Welfare has reported one more case of the Coronavirus outbreak on March 1 taking the total infected tally to 40, as per reports. The patient is a woman who is believed to be in her 70s and was a  passenger on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, that was quarantined in Japan in early February, according to the international media reports. 
The woman reportedly boarded the cruise liner on January 20 and tested positive for the virus on February 15. But on February 25, she tested negative and returned to Taiwan on February 26.

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Taiwan issues 'level three' alert

She was then directly kept under observation in an isolated place, as per reports. The health authorities in Taiwan issued 'level three' travel alert to Iran advising the citizens not to make 'non-essential' travel to the country.

Taiwanese authorities have reportedly announced a 14-day mandatory self-quarantine measure for travellers who returned from or travelled via Iran in the past 14 days. The policy will come into effect on Monday local time.

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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 epidemic. The 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.

More than 80000 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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