The French national, who arrived in Mongolia on 2 March, has been tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The patient has been quarantined in Ulaanbadrakh soum of Dornogobi province, where he went from Ulaanbaatar for work on 7 March. More than 120 people who came into close contact with the patient have been identified so far and taken into quarantine; in addition, over 500 people with indirect contact with him have been tacked down and are currently are under medical observation.

For example, a 67-year-old British man who sat next to the patient on the Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Ulaanbaatar has self-quarantined in Uvs province of Mongolia. It now transpires that a five-member team from the World Health Organisation flew to Mongolia on the same flight. The WHO advisory team has since been criticized by the public for working in the Darkhan-Uul and Selenge Provinces without wearing face masks.