The first American has died of the coronavirus, succumbing to the deadly infection in mainland China on Thursday — which was also the deadliest day of the outbreak so far, New York Post reports.
A total of 86 people died of the virus Friday, all of them in China, according to the latest health statistics on Worldometers.info, which compiles data from the World Heath Organization and other agencies.
Little data has been released about the American, other than that he or she died in a hospital in Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak, and was around 60 years old, the US Embassy in Beijing told The Times.
“We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss,” a spokesman for the embassy told the paper. “Out of respect for the family’s privacy, we have no further comment.”
At least 719 people have died of the virus since Jan. 23, when the first fatalities were reported. All but two of the deaths have been in mainland China; the other deaths were in Hong Kong and the Philippines.
The virus has infected more than 33,000 people, almost all of them in China. Of those, 6,100 are classified as being in severe condition and another 2,000 have recovered.
Experts estimate that each patient has passed the illness on to an average of three or four other people, causing the outbreak to expand geometrically.
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