First known death outside China reported in Philippines

A 44-year-old man in the Philippines has died of the coronavirus, health officials said on Sunday, making him the first known death outside China. The man, a resident of Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the virus, died on Saturday after developing what officials called “severe pneumonia.”

“This is the first known death of someone with 2019-nCoV outside of China,” the World Health Organization’s office in the Philippines said in a statement, using the technical shorthand for the coronavirus.

Philippines health officials said the man had arrived in the country on Jan. 21 with a 38-year-old woman who remains under observation.

More than 300 people have died in the outbreak so far, the vast majority from Hubei, and more than 14,000 people have been infected.

New York Times – WHO – BBC