Tibet reports first confirmed case of coronavirus

Tibet reported its first confirmed case of coronavirus on Thursday, involving a person hailing from the Chinese province of Hubei, local health authorities said.

The 34-year old patient, surnamed Zhang from the city of Suizhou had arrived in Lhasa by train from Wuhan on January 24 and was hospitalised the next day, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The region on Wednesday had activated the top-level emergency response to contain the coronavirus epidemic.

Coronavirus originated in Wuhan, a Chinese city of more than 11 million people and has since then spread to various countries around the world. As many as 170 people have been killed, while over 1700 cases have been registered in China alone.

Health authorities around the world are taking action to prevent a global pandemic as the virus continues to spread, with cases reported in Australia, France, the United States and several Asian countries besides China.