Italian evacuee from Wuhan positive for novel coronavirus

A passenger wearing a mask, center, looks out a window of a plane carrying Canadians back from Wuhan, China, on the tarmac at Vancouver International Airport, in Richmond, British Columbia, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

BEIJING — One of the 56 Italians repatriated this week from Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak in central China, has tested positive for the disease.

Health officials in the Lazio region that includes Rome said the patient has been moved from a military facility to the Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases in the capital, where two Chinese tourists with 2019-nCoV were being treated.

Italian media reported the patient is a 29-year-old unmarried researcher.

This came as a plane carrying Canadian citizens from Wuhan, China, has landed in Vancouver.

The evacuation flight organized by the Canadian government is refueling in Vancouver before flying to a military base in Ontario.

Several dozen more Canadian passengers left China onboard a United States government flight that departed a few hours later.

All 176 evacuees from Wuhan would spend 14 days under quarantine at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, where they will be monitored to see if they have contracted the virus.

Canada now has six confirmed cases and the United States, 12.