Taiwan Confirms First COVID-19 Death; Person Has Underlying Health Conditions

Lest you’re not aware, before this case, the total number of deaths outside of China stands at 4.

Now it’s at 5.

The first death from COVID-19 outside of China came from The Philippines on 2 February 2020, whereby a 44-year-old man from Wuhan died in the country. He allegedly had an undisclosed underlying health condition.

The second death is from Hong Kong, a 39-year-old man who has an underlying health condition as well. He had died from sudden heart failure.

The third death happened just three days ago in Japan to a woman in her 80s. However, that case is a tad complicated; she was only diagnosed with COVID-19 after her death, so the Japan health minister has said that the “relationship between the new coronavirus and the death of the person is still unclear.”

Yesterday, the first COVID-19-linked death outside of Asia occurred: the patient is an 80-year-old Chinese tourist in France. There are currently 12 confirmed cases in France.

As you would be able to tell, all patients who have succumbed to the virus either had underlying health conditions or are the elderly.

Today, Taiwan reported the fifth death outside of China and he, too, had underlying health conditions.

Taiwan Confirms First COVID-19 Death; Person Has Underlying Health Conditions

Today (16 February 2020) evening, Taiwan Health Minister Chen Shih-chung announced the death of a man in his 60s who has not traveled aboard recently and is infected with COVID-19.

The man had underlying health conditions: he had diabetes and Hepatitis B. He had died due to pneumonia and sepsis.

According to Mr Chen, the man’s not linked to any confirmed cases in Taiwan, so it’s unknown how he got infected. The man is a taxi driver who often ferried tourists from China, Hong Kong and Macau. Mr Chen added, “This could be Taiwan’s first community transmitted case.”

The authorities are now investigating through the man’s phone records, medical records and CCTV footage of his travel history within the country in order to determine how he was infected with the deadly virus.

In Taiwan, there are now a total of 20 confirmed cases.