Seven more people have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, which has brought the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 32, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Public Health Narong Saiwong said on Saturday.

“We have registered seven more coronavirus cases, so now we have 32 infected, nine of whom have already recovered and been discharged from hospitals,” Saivong told reporters.

As for the seven new patients, three of them are Thai citizens and four others are Chinese, he added.

One infected Thai national is an evacuee from China’s virus-hit Wuhan who was placed in quarantine upon his arrival back home. The two others work in the tourism industry, according to the health official.

Their relatives and other people who contacted them have been quarantined.

The new strain of coronavirus – 2019-nCoV – was first detected in China’s central city of Wuhan in December and has since spread to more than 20 countries. Currently, there are over 34,000 people infected worldwide, and the death toll has soared past 720.

Source: AFP