(Bloomberg) -- A 35-year-old man was confirmed as the first coronavirus case in
Mexico and a second case is awaiting final testing, the country’s deputy health minister said on Friday.The first patient has a mild case and has been put in quarantine along with family members in the country’s Institute of Epidemiological Diagnosis and Reference for further testing, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, the health official, said at the National Palace.The man is a resident of Mexico City who took a trip to
Italy in February. The case is Mexico’s first, and the second known instance in Latin America after
Brazil confirmed a case on Wednesday.“We have the capacity to deal with the situation,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at the press conference.The man traveled to Bergamo, Italy for a conference in February, where he had direct contact with an infected Italian national who normally lives in Malaysia. Three other Mexicans attended the same conference, one in Culiacan in Sinaloa state and another two in other parts of Mexico.They are being closely monitored, and a local health agency confirmed the man in Culiacan contracted the virus. It has sent details to the national agency for confirmation.“We see the state laboratory’s confirmation as valid, but nevertheless we will verify it in our own laboratory,” Lopez-Gatell said. Separately, Lopez-Gatell said that a cruise ship that had been stopped in Cozumel on suspicion of possible infection had no cases aboard and that passengers would be allowed to disembark.Worldwide, more than 83,000 cases have been confirmed and deaths from the virus have topped 2,800 people. On Friday,
Iran,
South Korea, Australia,
New Zealand, the Netherlands and the U.K. all reported new infections. Nigeria confirmed the first infection south of the Sahara desert.The Mexican peso fell 1.4% to 19.7820 per dollar, the weakest level since Oct. 2019. Mexico’s benchmark Mexbol stock index plunged 2.6% after the coronavirus news.(Adds case details, worldwide numbers and stock move throughout.)To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Villamil in Mexico City at jvillamil18@bloomberg.net;Lorena Rios in Mexico City at lriost@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Carolina Wilson at cwilson166@bloomberg.net, Nacha CattanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.