A man was sentenced to 10 months in prison for impeding the prevention and control work on the novel coronavirus – the first sentence of its kind in east China's Shandong Province.  

The man, surname Tian, returned to Chengwu County of Heze City in Shandong Province on January 9 from Hubei, and deliberately concealed his travel history from medics and local authorities after he ran a fever on January 20. 

He was categorized as suspected patient on January 25 but refused to cooperate with doctors. He was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus the following day, leading to the isolation of 37 people, including medical workers and patients in the same ward. 

The People's Court of Chengwu County, Heze City, handed down the sentence on Sunday morning, saying he severely affected medical institutions' work on epidemic prevention and control, and caused panic within a certain range. 

Tian confessed his crime and said he wouldn't appeal the verdict.