Fort Bend County Health and Human Services announced the county’s first Novel Coronavirus-related death in the county Friday afternoon. A woman in her 70s with significant pre-existing health conditions passed away at a local hospital late Wednesday.

“This is a tragic and sad outcome for this family and our community.  Today we face a historic public health event affecting not only Fort Bend County but communities around the globe,” said Director of Fort Bend County Health & Human Services Dr. Jacquelyn Minter.  “We offer our heartfelt condolences to the patient’s family and friends.”

The patient passed away at a local hospital and test results confirming COVID-19 were received back shortly after, a Fort Bend County press release said.

The press release indicated that COVID-19 is present in Fort Bend County and there are likely more cases than the county’s health department is aware of. Testing kits to check for COVID-19 are still in short supply throughout Greater Houston and not all patients exhibiting symptoms are being tested according to officials.

Fort Bend County Judge KP George encourages people to continue to practice social distancing to mitigate the spread of the deadly disease.

“As a community, we must come together to follow the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines and the Fort Bend County ‘Stay Home to Save Lives’ order to slow the spread of this unprecedented global pandemic,” George said.

Waller County, Fort Bend County's neighbor to the northwest continues to have zero cases of COVID-19, Waller County Judge Trey Duhonn said in a Facebook post earlier in the day. Harris County has seen 160 cases as of 7:16 p.m. Friday evening, not including cases in the city of Houston. One Harris case has resulted in death. The city of Houston reports 68 cases and one death as of that same time.