COLOMBO (REUTERS) - Sri Lanka has confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the country, a senior Sri Lankan health official said on Monday (Jan 27).

"A Chinese lady, who is in her 40s, arrived on the 19th as a tourist and fell ill on the 25th and was confirmed as having the coronavirus following a test on Monday," Sudath Samaraweera, the chief epidemiologist with Sri Lanka's Ministry of Health, told Reuters, adding that this marks the first confirmed case in the island nation.