Poland announced its first confirmed case of the new coronavirus on Wednesday, highlighting the disease’s spread around the world despite health officials’ efforts to contain it.

Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski said on Wednesday that the patient is feeling well and is being treated in a hospital in Zielona Gora in the west of the country. The patient recently visited Germany, the official also said.

The patient’s family and people the man had contact with are being quarantined, the minister said.

In total, 500 people are bing currently quarantined in Poland, while 68 people suspected of having contracted the virus are treated in hospitals.

Tens of thousands of people around the world have contracted the new strain of coronavirus, which began spreading in the industrial hub of Wuhan, China, in December.

The WHO reiterated this week that it is not a foregone conclusion that the virus will keep spreading. However, despite efforts, new cases keep popping up. That said, the bulk of the cases remain concentrated in five countries: China, Japan, Iran, Italy and South Korea.

Source: dpa/MIA