First coronavirus patient cured in Thailand

Bangkok: The first person who tested positive for the novel coronavirus here has been cured completely and discharged from the hospital, Thailand’s Health Minister has said.

A 50-year-old taxi driver, who carried Chinese tourists, is one of the nine cases of the deadly virus outbreak that has been cured in Thailand.

Thai Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said at a press conference in Nonthaburi on Wednesday that the remaining patients are recovering and are likely to be declared cured in the near future.

All relatives and people who had been in contact with the taxi driver were not infected, he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Public Health Minister Sathit Pitutecha said that six of 138 Thai people brought back from the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak on Tuesday. All of them had reported high fever.

On Wednesday, the number of persons with high temperatures dropped to four, and they were treated at Queen Sirikit Hospital in Sattahip district, Chon Buri.