UPDATE - Serbia confirms first coronavirus case

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS AND REMARKS FROM EPIDEMIOLOGIST

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - Serbia on Friday confirmed the first coronavirus case in the Balkan country.

"This is a 43-year old man from Subotica city who had been to Budapest recently," said Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar during an extraordinary press conference.

Epidemiologist Predrag Kon said that the patient came to the hospital with symptoms.

Healthcare experts are fearing cases elsewhere in the country, especially the capital Belgrade.

On Thursday, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia confirmed their first cases of the new coronavirus in the countries.

Meanwhile, Croatia confirmed that 10 people tested positive on the virus.

COVID-19 emerged in China’s central Wuhan city last December and has now spread to over 80 countries.

The global death toll is over 3,200, with more than 95,000 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Notably, some 52,000 patients who contracted the virus recovered.

The WHO, which declared the outbreak an international health emergency, recently updated the global risk level to very high.