Japan handed over 9,000 surgical masks to the Maldivian government on Sunday, to help curb the spread of the ongoing novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the masks were donated by a group of well-wishers from Japan as a gesture of goodwill to reduce the spread of the virus in case of an outbreak.
The Government of #Japan handed over 9,000 surgical masks to the Government of #Maldives today, donated by a group of well-wishers from Japan as a gesture of goodwill, to help curb the spread of the ongoing epidemic, novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV pic.twitter.com/N0f1v6OfQM
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs 🇲🇻 (@MoFAmv) February 2, 2020
Last Thursday, Ministry of Health confirmed that the first suspected case of the novel coronavirus was found in Maldives. The 20-year-old Maldivian male, who arrived from Xiamen, China, on Wednesday night, is currently under quarantine at the isolation facility set up in Fonadhoo, Kaafu Atoll.
Although the patient did not have any noticeable symptoms during the airport screening process on arrival, he later began to exhibit flu-like symptoms and sought medical help himself.
Ministry of Health stated that samples from suspected cases would be tested at Pune, India, as Maldives currently lacks the equipment to conduct tests. The Ministry has yet to announce whether the suspected case has tested positive or not although authorities stated that samples from the patient were sent abroad for testing.
The new strain of coronavirus originating in Wuhan City has now been detected in a total of 27 countries.
As of Sunday noon, a total of 14,559 cases of the virus were reported worldwide, with a death toll of 305.
Chinese authorities revealed that 328 patients that contracted that disease have made full recoveries.
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