Suspected Coronavirus Case In Bolivia Tests Negative - Health Minister

LA PAZ (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2020) The quarantined 18-year-old Bolivian who arrived from China, where the virus originated, has tested negative for coronavirus, Health Minister Anibal Cruz told reporters on Tuesday.

"I want to tell the country and the world that we have done the first test [for the coronavirus] here, in the laboratory in Bolivia, and it was negative for the 18-year-old young man from [the city of] Cochabamba," Cruz said.

Bolivia along with a number of other countries has already introduced intensive epidemiological control against coronavirus not only at airports but also at the country's land borders.

The deadly virus, which is now dubbed COVID-19, has already killed on over 1,000 people with more than 43,000 others being infected. It was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December and has since spread to over 20 countries.