San Francisco, March 5 Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak tweeted that he and his wife may have contracted the coronavirus (COVID-19) after a trip to Southeast Asia and may have been "patient zero," bringing the virus to the US.
"Checking out Janet's bad cough. Started Jan. 4. We had just returned from China and may have both been patient zero in U.S. (@ West Coast Sports Institute in Santa Clara, CA)," Wozniak tweeted recently.
Later, Steve Wozniak's wife Janet Wozniak told USA Today that she was diagnosed with a sinus infection and it was not a case of coronavirus as they originally thought.
The report also quoted Apple co-founder describing the experience as "the worst flu of our lives."
"We cancelled everything else to head home, but I could not move out of bed for two days. I did tell everyone that I was sick and stayed away from almost all in Vegas," he said.
He also added that his wife was coughing up blood and went to the hospital and they said it was no American flu.
"There was no test for this COVID-19 then. Eventually, they did have a test, but you could only get it done through the CDC and they wouldn't test people like myself and Janet, who were well past symptoms," he told the publication.
The 69-year-old millionaire tech entrepreneur called his "patient zero" reference "kind of a joke," adding that the couple's gastrointestinal symptoms were not characteristic of coronavirus.
"I think that our GI symptoms better fit some other flu, because you rarely hear of that with COVID-19," he said.
The novel coronavirus, which originated from China has killed more than 3,100 people across the world. Within the US, more than 100 people have been infected with COVID-19 in at least 11 states. In India, the total number of confirmed cases currently is at 29.
( With inputs from IANS )