South Korea confirmed its 16th case of coronavirus, as a 42-year-old South Korean woman has tested positive for coronavirus after traveling in Thailand.
Identified only as Patient 16, the woman flew back to South Korea on 19 January. She started to develop chills and other symptoms from 25 January, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said in a statement.
Her condition did not improve and was confirmed positive today, following checks at Chonnam National University Hospital.
Despite this, KCDC did not explicitly rule out a visit to China in its statement.
Thailand has reported 19 cases of the novel coronavirus to date. The country reported the first case on human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus when a taxi driver was tested positive and suspected to have been infected by a sick traveller.
Deputy director-general of the Department Disease Control Tanarak Plipat commented that the overall risk of infection in Thailand is “still low”.
Mr Plipat said the woman could have contracted the virus in Thailand, as the virus has been spreading domestically in the country, South China Morning Post reported.
Thailand is one of the most visited destinations during the lunar new year. The Guardian reported that over 25,000 people arrived in Thailand from China between 3 January and 27 January.
Previously, the World Health Organization declared the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak a global public health emergency on 30 January 2020.
Since its outbreak, China has put the city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus originated, under lockdown in a bid to contain the virus.
The Novel coronavirus has now spread to 28 countries and territories worldwide, with 20,694 confirmed cases and 427 deaths as of today (4 February).
