First person infected with novel coronavirus revealed

A shrimp seller from China turned out to be the first person infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Report informs via RIA Novosti, which cited Chinese media.

According to the media reports, it was a woman named Wei, who was selling live shrimps at the Hunan wet market in Wuhan. On December 11, 2019, she had fever and applied for medical aid. The saleswoman said that usually when she had a malaise, she used to go to a hospital, and the next day her health improved after getting an injection. However, this time even two doses did not help.

On December 16, Wei went to a hospital at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Later it was made clear that she was the first person to have a confirmed case of coronavirus infection in the Hunan market. There is speculation that this particular market has become a source of infection. However, specialists have not yet been able to find out how and under what circumstances the virus could be transmitted from an animal carrier to a person.

On December 31, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission reported that the number of people in the first batch of those infected was 27.

Chinese media managed to find the first infected person who had no contact with Hunan - a man surnamed Chen. His temperature rose on December 16, and he went to a hospital in Wuhan’s suburbs. The patient could not understand where he got the infection. However, he noted that his family members, as well as the person accompanying him to the hospital, were healthy.

The novel coronavirus has spread to over 190 countries and territories since then.

To date, over 487,400 cases of COVID-19 have been reported around the globe, resulting in more than 22,000 deaths and 117,500 recoveries.