Thai taxi driver is kingdom's first human-to-human transmission of virus
A Thai taxi driver has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, health officials said Friday, in the kingdom's first case of human-to-human transmission of the deadly sickness which has sparked a global health alert.
The finding makes Thailand only the sixth country alongside China, Germany, Japan, France and the US with confirmed domestic infections.
It also comes as the Chinese death toll topped 200 on Friday and warnings intensified over the potential for the SARS-like virus to spread through countries with less well maintained public health systems.
"Today (Friday) there are five more patients with coronavirus, four are Chinese who came in from Wuhan," Sukhum Kanjanapimai, a Health Ministry official told reporters.
"The fifth was a Thai national - a taxi driver - who hasn't travelled to China... but may have had contact with Chinese tourists."
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