Authorities are investigating a case of suspected coronavirus in Brazil that, if confirmed, would be the first known COVID-19 case in the country as well as in South America.
The 61-year-old man, a Brazilian national, was on Tuesday afternoon admitted to Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil, the ministry of health said.
The health ministry said that the results of a second test on the man for the new coronavirus by the Adolfo Lutz Institute are expected on Wednesday.
“This process of validating the results is ongoing and the [Brazil Ministry of Health] will release the final investigation report in due course,” the ministry said in a statement, translated from Portuguese by Google. The ministry “recommends caution about any information other than official information, since the investigation is not completed,” according to the statement.
On Monday, a spokesman for Brazil’s Health Ministry said that the country has added an extra nine countries to its coronavirus alert list, including Italy, France, and Germany.
Those who show symptoms of COVID-19 such as fever or coughing will be put under suspicion and may have to undergo medical tests when they arrive in Brazil.
Wanderson Oliveira, the Brazil health ministry’s secretary of health surveillance, said that in addition to the three European countries, the following were also added, bringing the total to 16: Australia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.
Italy has 322 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus and has seen 11 coronavirus-related deaths. Of the deaths, four were reported on Tuesday. Like the seven earlier deaths, the latest deaths involved patients who were elderly, suffering from other ailments or both, officials said.