Ammon News - AMMAN (Petra) – The Ministry of Health on Saturday informed World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Amman Akram Altoum that it had made prompt contacts with Italian health authorities after Italy on Friday reported its first Coronavirus case, a 40-year-old Italian who had traveled to Jordan. Health Minister Mjalli Mheilan called the ministry's special Coronavirus committee into a meeting today to take immediate measures after the reports that the infected person had traveled to Jordan.

The committee also contacted Italian authorities to learn full details of the case and more about the persons the Italian came in contact with in Jordan so that authorities could conduct an expanded epidemiology probe and gather more information about the infection.

"We called the WHO regional office in Cairo and the head office in Geneva after the ministry of health informed us about its procedures to gain more information about the case from the period before the infection, as well as the details of the probe by Italian authorities", Altoum told Petra.

He said the 40-year-old patient, who resides in Italy and had stayed in Jordan for 40 days, is in good condition, adding that he was awaiting news about the locations he had traveled to in Jordan and the people he had met with, in order to share information with the ministry as it begins the epidemiology probe.

Fifty cases of the coronavisus have been reported worldwide, and 30 of the infected persons have died.

In 2012, the Ministry of Health reported the death of two people due to the virus, which can cause coughing, fever and pneumonia. But no new cases or deaths have so far been reported this year.