The first United States citizen has died as a result of contracting the Coronavirus, according to The New York Times.
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The United States Embassy in Beijing reports the patient was "around 60-years-old," and died on Thursday.
"We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss," a spokesperson for the embassy said. "Out of respect for the family’s privacy, we have no further comment."
Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have offered to send a team of experts to China to help with the outbreak. China has not accepted help from either group. Experts tell The New York Times that one reason could be that various aspects of the outbreak may look bad for China.
As of Friday, 34,000 people in 24 countries have been infected with the Coronavirus. 700 people have been killed.
The news comes days after the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, the whistleblower who warned the world about the Coronavirus. On December 30th, Li warned about the virus online and was subsequently arrested for spreading false rumors. He was forced to sign a document which disavowed his statements. Li died of the virus he tried to warn the world about on Friday morning.
