Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/31/2020
By: Lai Yen-hsi and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Jan. 31 (CNA) Two Taiwanese nationals in China were confirmed Friday to be infected with the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), according to the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Taiwan's top government agency handling cross-Taiwan Strait affairs.

One of the patients is a businessperson forced to stay in Wuhan — the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak — since the central Chinese city was closed off on Jan. 23 while the other worked in Wuhan before flying to Shenzhen in mid-January, the MAC said in a statement.

They are the first cases of 2019-nCoV infection involving Taiwanese nationals who remained in China after the outbreak began.

Nearly 10,000 people in China have been confirmed to have the coronavirus since the outbreak began in mid-December, and more than 200 people have died of the virus there, all in Hubei Province where Wuhan is located.    [FULL  STORY]