Lithuania, New Zealand, Belarus confirm first novel coronavirus cases

Lithuania’s Ministry of Health has reported the first novel coronavirus case in the country. A statement to this effect was posted on the ministry’s website on Friday.

According to the ministry, a woman who returned from Verona, Italy, on February 24, has tested positive for the virus. She is currently in hospital in Siauliai. The patient has no fever or any pronounced symptoms of the disease.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health has also reported the first novel coronavirus case in the country.

"The person [diagnosed with the novel coronavirus] arrived in Auckland on 26 February," The New Zealand Herald quotes a spokesman for the Ministry of Health as saying.

The paper noted that the aforementioned person had arrived in New Zealand on Wednesday on Emirates flight EK450 from Tehran via Bali.

The Belarusian Ministry of Health has registered the first novel coronavirus case in the country too.

According to the ministry, an Iranian citizen has tested positive.

"The first imported coronavirus case has been recorded in Belarus. We inform you that a student from Iran has tested positive for the 2019-nCoV coronavirus during tests conducted at the Republican Research and Practical Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology on February 27," the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

The outbreak of the now-infamous novel coronavirus pneumonia was recorded in Wuhan, an economic and industrial metropolis, in late December 2019. The World Health Organization has declared it a public health emergency of international concern, describing it as an epidemic with multiple locations. Apart from China, 55 other countries and territories, including Russia, have reported confirmed coronavirus cases.

According to the authorities, the number of people infected with the new coronavirus in China has passed 83,380. Of these, 2,858 were fatalities, while more than 36,581 patients recovered.