Mexico City on coronavirus alert: what is known of the first patient who tested positive

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“It is time to remain supportive, serene,” that is how the head of government of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, called on the po[CENSORED]tion after it became known that a patient tested positive for coronavirus.

Although it was known that the arrival in Mexico of COVID-19 was imminent, the news that there is an infected person alerted the authorities and the general public.

"Since January 30 that the WHO declared the emergency, the Ministry of Health in coordination with the federal government, took preventive actions," said Sheinbaum.

On Thursday night, the Undersecretary of Health Prevention and Promotion, Hugo López-Gatell Ramírez, announced the first case of a coronavirus that tested positive in Mexico City. The 35-year-old man who was tested is admitted to the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER). After testing positive for the COVID-19 virus and subsequently a second confirmation test was carried out at the Epidemiological Diagnostic and Reference Institute (InDRE). The official said the results will be announced once they are ready.

The authorities are already studying the contacts in the case and the patient is being treated in isolation. The undersecretary said that it is a mild case of the disease and that the diagnosis is not definitive, which is why a second sample was sent to be analyzed.

In the evening news En Punto, led by Denisse Mearker, the undersecretary explained that it is a 35-year-old man with the history of having been in northern Italy, which fits into the new definition with which they are described as suspects the cases presenting symptoms related to the coronavirus. The male has symptoms of "mild" respiratory disease, the same determination that the official explained as:

The undersecretary said that there had previously been a false positive in these tests when they were testing the tests in the InDRE, so it is until a verification process is made that can be considered as a real case of COVID-19. However, the preventive measures taken by the authorities are already those of a positive case of the disease, so that five of the relatives of the infected are already under study of health elements.

The results of the verification test will be ready throughout the early hours of February 28, "almost at dawn," said López-Gatell, who has the indication to attend tomorrow the security meeting of the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

If the test is positive, the information would be disseminated at the president's own morning conference in the National Palace

This occurs after the wide controversy over the MSC Meraviglia cruise, which remained stranded because two passengers had mild symptoms of respiratory infections, which were ruled out by coronaviruses, as they tested positive for type A influenza.