The first American citizen who has been diagnosed with the Coronavirus, a citizen who was staying in China, has been pronounced dead by Chinese medical authories.
A U.S. citizen diagnosed with the coronavirus has died in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the center of the outbreak, marking the first known American death from the disease.
The person was 60 years old and died Thursday at Wuhan’s Jinyintan Hospital, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said Saturday. He provided no further details. “We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss,” he said. “Out of the respect for the family’s privacy, we have no further comment.”
A spokesperson at Jinyintan Hospital referred questions to the Wuhan foreign affairs office, which didn’t answer phone calls on Saturday.
Chinese authorities said fatalities in China from the coronavirus reached a single-day high of 86 on Friday, raising the national death toll to 722. They said they confirmed 3,399 new cases of infections from the virus that causes respiratory illnesses, bringing the total to 34,546. The vast majority of coronavirus deaths and infections occurred in Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province, a region of nearly 60 million residents that has been locked down. (source)