China has just confirmed the first death from its mysterious viral pneumonia. A 61-year-old man succumbed to respiratory and circulatory failure on January 9.
More than forty people have been diagnosed with the illness in the Chinese city of Wuhan since its outbreak in early January. Seven patients are confirmed to be in serious condition while two have already been discharged. The majority of those infected were found to be workers at a seafood market in Wuhan.
No new cases have been reported since January 9, according to health authorities.
The Department of Health (DOH) gave orders to the Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) to practice stricter surveillance of travelers from China.
Scientists have discovered that the virus behind the mystery pneumonia is from the same family as that of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the pandemic which infected over 8,000 people and took more than seven hundred lives from Asia, the U.S., South America, Asia, and Europe.
Good thing, though, that the virus behind China's new cases of pneumonia is weaker and is less lethal than that of SARS.