A computer image created by Nexu Science Communication together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus which is the type of virus linked to COVID-19, better known as the coronavirus linked to the Wuhan outbreak, shared with Reuters on February 18, 2020.
Alireza Vahabzadeh, adviser to the health minister, stated that both of the deaths were confirmed carriers living in Qom, 140 kilometres from Tehran. Apart from that information, nothing else is known as of this time about the first Coronavirus cases in Iran.
The first confirmation of these two coronavirus cases was made on Wednesday, based on a report by ISNA news agency. A little time after the report was released, the two-elderly patient died. After the detection of these two elderly cases, the health ministry has probable cases of the virus.
Spokesman Kianush Jahanpour commented that both of the patients were old and immunity systems were unable to fight off the virus, causing their deaths in a Qom hospital. The nationality of the patients were confirmed by the Iranian officials, Young Journalists Club (YJC) reported.
The odd thing about this case, as noted by IRNA, is that the victims have neither been abroad or went outside Qom when they died because of the infection. Origin of the cause of the infection is puzzling and is a mystery for the Iranian officials since most cases had travelled or were exposed to carriers.
As preventive to stave off further infection of a beginning outbreak, all schools and universities are closed on Thursday as a precaution.
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Iranian officials have announced that no cases of the coronavirus have been detected after the two positive cases in Qom. There were also no positive carriers outside of Qom.
In other places in the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates has reported nine positive coronavirus infections. All of the infected patients in the UAE are all Chinese, but no fatalities as of this writing.
Another case in Egypt, a foreigner not a local resident, has COVID-19 but is already in the recovery stage as tests show that the virus has dissipated. The World Health Organization is monitoring this case, and the recovered patient will be quarantined for two weeks and kept under observation before being sent home.
WHO recently identified 75,197 cases of COVID-19 and 2009 deaths courtesy of the contagion. About 918 of the COVID-19 cases and three fatalities were inside the lock downed China.
Coronavirus infections are still coming in with new cases, but no local infections that are virulent are in Iran. One exception if the Diamond Princess pleasure cruise, that was quarantined.
The COVID-19 is the name given by the World Health Organization to this disease that was detected last December. The coronavirus has infected 75,000 abroad as it escapes via transmission from carriers in China, with 2000 already dead from it with no cure in sight yet. Most of the dead are in China where the virus has caused massive infections and locked down cities.
The detection of the coronavirus in Iran is positive, but whether it will spread is not known. All incoming flights are now under watch to keep to virus from its population.
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