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EPA
A man has died of the coronavirus in the Philippines in the virus’s first confirmed fatality outside China.
The patient was a 44-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan, in Hubei province, where the virus was first detected.
He appeared to have been infected before arriving in the Philippines, the World Health Organization said.
More than 300 people have died in the outbreak so far, the vast majority from Hubei, and more than 14,000 people worldwide have been infected.
The man developed severe pneumonia after being admitted to a hospital in the capital Manila, the Philippines Department of Health said.
He arrived in the Philippines with a Chinese woman who had also tested positive for the virus, it added.
Rabindra Abeyasinghe, the WHO representative to the Philippines, said: “This is the first reported death outside China.
“However, we need to take into mind that this is not a locally acquired case. This patient came from the epicentre of this outbreak.”
The death comes as countries around the world close their borders to arrivals from China, as officials work to control the rapid spread of the virus.
The US and Australia have said they will deny entry to all foreign visitors who had recently been to China, where the 2019-nCov strain of the coronavirus first emerged in December.
Other countries including New Zealand, Russia, Japan, Pakistan and Italy have also announced similar travel restrictions.
The man’s death was confirmed shortly after the Philippines announced it would also immediately halt the arrivals of any foreign travellers from China.