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A 60-year-old man is being held in a Yangon hospital with the first suspected case of coronavirus in Myanmar.
The Chinese citizen was on a China Southern Airlines flight from Guangzhou when its crew alerted the command tower at Yangon International Airport today at 10.38am that they suspected he had the respiratory infection, according to local media.
The patient, reportedly a resident of Hunan—the neighbouring province to the epicentre of the outbreak—was taken to Waybargi Infectious Disease Hospital in North Okkalapa township.
About 80 other passengers were on board the plane—it is unclear whether they will be put in quarantine or returned to China.
“The passengers aren’t allowed to leave the plane and they are being screened,” the airport’s general manager, Soe Paing, told The Irrawaddy.
A health ministry official told DVB Media that Yangon’s National Health Laboratory lacks the equipment to confirm the virus.
Dr Khin Khin Gyi told Eleven Media samples would be sent to a pathology laboratory in Thailand.
This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.
