The Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS) announced today the special administrative region's 8th confirmed case of novel coronavirus infection, the first case affecting a local resident. The previous seven patients are tourists from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak in Hubei province, who were visiting Macau when they were diagnosed with the highly infectious and potentially deadly disease.
The 8th case if a 64-year-old local unemployed woman. According to a GCS statement, her infection has been classified as an imported case, based on preliminary data.
According to the statement, the woman sought medical treatment at the emergency ward of the public Conde de S. Januario Hospital Centre last Monday, complaining of fever and cough. As her condition did not improve, she sought treatment at the private Kiang Wu Hospital on Thursday and Friday. She returned to seek treatment at the private hospital yesterday, complaining of abdominal pain. She underwent a computed tomography (CT) scan, which showed mild symptoms of pneumonia, according to the statement.
She was transferred to the public hospital yesterday afternoon where she tested positive for the novel coronavirus. She has been placed in isolation for treatment.
The statement noted that the woman was an in-patient treatment at Zhuhai Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine on January 10-17, having been diagnosed with herpes zoster. The told doctors that she bought live poultry from a wet market in Sanxiang town of Zhongshan city in Guangdong province on January 22 and stayed in the town some 20 kilometres north of Macau on January 22-23.
According to the statement, the patient has moderate symptoms of novel coronavirus infection. According to her account, she had neither been in Hubei province nor in adjacent areas, nor was she aware of having been in touch with any patients diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, the statement underlined.
The statement stressed that Macau's team for disease prevention and control has been conducting a follow-up investigation of her epidemiological history and identifying people who might have had been in close contact with her.
