Thailand reports second Chinese woman infected with Wuhan coronavirus

Thailand detected a second visitor from China infected with a coronavirus, identified in Wuhan, in Hubei province of China, health officials said.

This came hours after China reported a second death, an elderly man, from the dangerous disease.

In Thailand, the 74-year-old Chinese woman is being treated at hospital after presenting with symptoms at  the capital's airport, Suvarnabhumi on January 13, according to the health ministry.

Tests showed that a 74-year-old woman, quarantined since arriving in Thailand on Monday was infected, health permanent secretary Sukhum Karnchanapimai said today, the Bangkok Post reports. 
She was diagnosed with pneumonia linked to the new coronavirus, which has stirred alarm after killing two in China and hospitalising dozens. It has also
been detected in Japan.
"People don't have to panic as there is no spread of the virus in Thailand," the ministry said in its statement.
The woman, whose condition is improving, arrived from the central Chinese city of Wuhan -- believed to be at the epicentre of the outbreak.
It came after Thai doctors diagnosed another Chinese traveller with mild pneumonia on January 8, later confirmed to have been caused by the new virus.
The World Health Organisation has said "much remains to be understood" about the coronavirus from the same family as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which claimed hundreds of lives more than a decade ago.

Thai health officials have stepped up monitoring at four airports receiving daily flights from Wuhan - Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueng, Chiang Mai and Phuket - and others that receive charter flights from the Chinese city, the Bangkok Post reports.

Since Jan 3, 13,624 passengers had been screened on arrival, officials said.

Health officials also asked Thai AirAsia and China Southern Airlines, which run direct daily flights from Wuhan, to halt boarding by those suffering from high fever and respiratory symptoms, and reschedule their flights. -AFP/The Standard