The first person to test positive for locally transmitted coronavirus, a taxi driver, has been declared free of the virus and discharged from hospital.

Four Thai evacuees from Wuhan who had a fever have also been tested and found negative for the disease.

All relatives and people who had been in contact with him were also free of the virus, public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said.

The man was among nine virus patients who had now recovered and been discharged. The number of patients remaining in local hospitals is now 16, Mr Anutin said.

Health officials said the first locally infected and now recovered patient was a taxi driver, 50, who had carried Chinese passengers.