Only coronavirus patient in Tibet discharged from hospital

The only patient infected with the novel coronavirus in Tibet was discharged from hospital on Wednesday after 18 days of treatment. The 34-year-old patient is from Suizhou city in Hubei province, the epicentre of the virus.

He travelled from Hubei's capital Wuhan to Lhasa, the provincial capital of Tibet by train from January 22 to 24. On January 25, he developed symptoms of cough and fever, and later went to the designated medical institution in the region and was hospitalised.

He was confirmed to be infected with the new virus on January 29, becoming the the first and only confirmed case in the region. "When I learned that I was a confirmed case, I felt great stress and was very upset. The medical staff gave me meticulous care. I sincerely thank the doctors, nurses and the Tibetan people," state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the patient as saying.

"After receiving treatment, the patient's temperature has returned to normal for 14 days, and two nucleic acid tests had negative results," Puncog Zhaxi, president of the Third People's Hospital of Tibet said. "In accordance with the country's latest novel coronavirus pneumonia diagnosis and treatment scheme and consultation of an expert team, the patient has met the standard of cured and can be discharged from hospital," Puncog Zhaxi said.

As of Tuesday, Tibet has not reported any new or suspected cases or deaths caused by the virus for the 13th consecutive day, the Xinhua report said. The death toll in China's novel coronavirus outbreak has gone up to 1,113 with 97 new fatalities reported mostly in the worst-affected Hubei province while the confirmed cases of infection jumped to 44,653, health officials said on Wednesday.

The virus was officially named "COVID-19" by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday. After naming the virus as "COVID-19", WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "We had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or group of people, and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease".

The CO stands for corona, the VI for virus and the D for disease, Ghebreyesus said in Geneva. Several countries have banned arrivals from China while major airlines have suspended flights to the country.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)