First coronavirus infection confirmed in North Macedonia

The first case of novel coronavirus infected patient in North Macedonia was confirmed on Wednesday, Minister of Health Venko Filipce said.

Speaking at a joint press conference attended by Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski and representatives from the National Institute of Public Health, he said that there is no room for panic, the patient was admitted in the Infectious Diseases Clinic, placed in an isolation unit, and her condition is being properly monitored and treated.

According to the epidemiological analysis, it was confirmed that the 49-year-old patient had been in Italy for a month visiting relatives. She had been ill for two weeks and was initially tested and treated at a healthcare facility in Italy. Immediately after entering her home country, she went straight to the Infectious Diseases Clinic in Skopje.

Filipce said that during the course of the trip she was no longer contagious to other people, as the incubation period of the infection was over.