Pakistan has detected its first two cases of novel coronavirus, days after Islamabad closed its land border with Iran, where 19 people have died from the virus.
"I can confirm first two cases of coronavirus in Pakistan. Both cases are being taken care of according to clinical standard protocols & both of them are stable. No need to panic, things are under control", tweeted health advisor Zafar Mirza.
A statement issued by the southern Sindh province's health department stated that the first positive case was reported in Karachi - a 22-year-old male with a "history of travel to Iran where he has acquired the virus."
Officials did not confirm where the second case was reported.
With porous borders, creaking hospitals and large illiterate populations, Pakistan faces a potentially devastating health crisis from the new coronavirus.
Pakistani hospital staff wear protective masks. Source: AAP
The virus has spread to more than 30 countries, killing more than 2,700 and infecting 80,000 - mostly in China.
But new outbreaks in Europe, the Middle East and in Asia have fanned fears of the contagion taking hold in poor nations which lack the healthcare infrastructure to cope.
First case in Latin America
Brazil's health ministry said on Wednesday a Sao Paulo resident has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, the first case recorded in Latin America.
The 61-year-old patient had returned on 21 February from Italy's Lombardy region, the epicenter of an outbreak in the European country, Brazil's Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta said.
Airport employees wear masks as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus at the Sao Paulo International Airport. Source: AAP
Mr Mandetta said authorities were trying to identify people that had been in contact with the patient as well as around 30 friends and family members.
The man had visited a doctor complaining of flu symptoms. He has been placed in home isolation but is "fine," Sao Paulo Health Secretary Jose Henrique Germann Ferreira said.
Mr Mandetta added that the man had displayed "no symptoms" when he returned last Friday.
Customers buy masks at a medical supply store in Sao Paulo after Brazil's government confirmed the country's first confirmed case of the new coronavirus. Source: AAP
Sao Paulo is Brazil's largest city with 12 million inhabitants.
The news comes during carnival season, when swathes of people take to the streets for a giant party while mingling in close proximity.
