The Directorate-General for Health said, in a statement, “that the first suspected case of infection with a new Coronavirus is being evaluated in Portugal.”
According to the health entity, the patient, who is under observation at the Curry Cabral Hospital, in Lisbon, returned “today from China, where he was in the city of Wuhan in the last few days”, and his clinical situation is stable.
“Regarding the outbreak of pneumonia due to new Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), starting in China, the Directorate-General for Health informs that the first suspected case of infection with a new Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is being evaluated in Portugal”, says DGS, in a note published on its website.
The Directorate-General for Health also indicates that the patient’s clinical situation “is stable”, pending the results of ongoing laboratory tests.
The new virus, which causes pneumonia, was detected in China in late 2019, and has already killed at least 41 people. The first cases appeared exactly in Wuhan, a city with 11 million inhabitants and the capital of Hubei province, in the center of the country.
VIRUS HAS KILLED 41 PEOPLE
The virus has already killed 41 people in China and infected more than 1,300 in several countries.
In addition to Chinese territory, cases have been confirmed in Macau, Hong Kong, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, the United States, Malaysia, France and Australia.
Chinese officials consider the country to be at the “most critical” point in terms of preventing and controlling the virus and have quarantined 13 cities.
WHAT SYMPTOMS
The symptoms associated with the infection caused by this new coronavirus are more intense than the flu and include fever, pain, malaise and breathing difficulties, including shortness of breath.
In Portugal, DGS had already activated preventive public health devices, while the European Center for Disease Control raised the risk of contagion in the European Union to “moderate”, continuing to monitor the situation and carry out rapid risk assessments.
A source from the office of the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, Berta Nunes, told Lusa today that the Portuguese authorities are cooperating with other European countries to strengthen support for national citizens who are in Wuhan and admitted the possibility of being removed from that country. City.
One of the scenarios, said the same source, is to remove the Portuguese from that city, “if this is feasible in the light of public health rules”.
Two dozen Portuguese had been referred to by the Government on Friday as residents or visiting Wuhan.
According to the government office, of these 20 citizens, “14 people were already registered as residents in Wuhan at the Portuguese embassy in Beijing”.
In addition, the Communities Portal advises the registration of travel in the Travel Registration application, and asks residents, if they have not yet done so, to proceed to their consular registration or to update it at the post with jurisdiction over the area of residence.
