New Virus Case Confirmed in Tibetan Area of Sichuan, With Travel Blocked Across Tibet

A new case of infection by the Wuhan coronavirus in a Tibetan area of China was confirmed on Thursday in Sichuan’s Ngaba prefecture, according to Chinese state media reports which described the patient as a 26-year-old woman from Hubei. “[She] left on Jan. 21 and arrived in Barkham county on Jan. 22 by train, passing through Chengdu," the official announcement said. "The patient was confirmed coronavirus positive and is being treated in isolation in the hospital." "Those who have been in close contact with the patient are also under medical observation,” it said.

The report follows an announcement on Wednesday confirming the infection of a patient identified only by his surname Zhang, who arrived in Tibet’s regional capital Lhasa by train from Hubei on Jan. 24 and was admitted to a hospital for testing the next day.

Meanwhile, monasteries, cultural sites, and other public gathering places remain closed in central areas of the Tibet Autonomous Region, with all tourists and pilgrims now in Lhasa ordered to leave for their native areas beginning Jan. 31, a Tibetan man said in front of Lhasa’s Potala Palace in a video now circulating on social media.

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