All tests of people in contact with Yemen’s first coronavirus patient negative, says health minister

The country’s first case of Covid-19 was reported on Friday

Yemen has confirmed six cases of coronavirus. One person has recovered, while two have died. EPA

Yemen's Minister of Public Health and head of the country's National Emergency Committee for Covid-19 said on Wednesday that none of the people who were in contact with the country’s first coronavirus patient have tested positive.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Dr Nasser Baoum said a World Health Organisation team tested people who were in contact with the patient, who was detected in Al Shaher district of Hadramawt province in southern Yemen on Friday.

Dr Baoum did not give the exact number of people who were tested by the WHO in Al Sheher on Wednesday.

But Dr Ali Al Aaleedi, Yemen's deputy minister of health, told The National that two people who were in contact with the patient were tested after showing some symptoms.

Dr Al Aaleedi said those two would be tested again with 72 hours.

Dr Adham Mohammed, head of diseases control at the Yemeni Health Ministry, told The National that all 120 people who were in contact with the Covid-19 patient are still quarantined.

The Ministry of Public Health and Population said the positive case had been isolated and was being treated in a local hospital in Al Sheher, where he is in a stable condition.