A man in the Philippines has become the first person to die of the Wuhan coronavirus outside of China

Source: Business Insider:::

February 2, 2020 at 06:37

A doctor attends to a patient in an isolation ward at a hospital in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020. Associated Press

A man in the Philippines has died of the Wuhan coronavirus, the first confirmed fatality outside of China.

The victim was a 44-year-old man, according to the World Health Organization's Philippines branch, who posted the news on Twitter Sunday morning.

"A 44-year-old male is confirmed as the second person with the 2019 novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease (2019-nCoV) in the Philippines. He passed away on 1 February 2020," the WHO said.

A 44-year-old male is confirmed as the second person with the 2019 novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease (2019-nCoV) in the Philippines. He passed away on 1 February 2020. pic.twitter.com/5a5tPWtvpc
— World Health Organization Philippines (@WHOPhilippines) February 2, 2020

"The 44-year-old male experienced fever, cough & sore throat before being admitted at San Lazaro Hospital," the WHO said in a second tweet.

The man, and a 38-year-old Chinese woman travelling with him, were the only two confirmed cases in the country, the Philippines Department of Health said in a press conference on Sunday.

They arrived together from Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, via Hong Kong.

"This is the first reported death outside China. However, we need to take into mind that this is not a locally acquired case. This patient came from the epicenter of this outbreak," Rabindra undefined, WHO representative to the Philippines, said at the press conference.