A third case of the deadly coronavirus has been confirmed in the United States, health officials have revealed.
The Centers for Disease Control said the patient in Orange County, southern California, tested positive for the disease which has killed 56 in China and infected 2,000 worldwide.
The patient had traveled to the US from Wuhan, the city where the killer virus broke out from and was taken into isolation where he remains in good condition. He was actually the one who contacted local health officials, that provided him guidance to reduce exposure to the public while awaiting laboratory confirmation from the CDC.
The Orange County agency has consulted with the CDC and the California Department of Health and will follow up with people who have had close contact with the patient.
Guidance from the CDC advises that people who have had casual contact with the patient are at “minimal risk” for developing infection. Although, there’s no evidence that person-to-person transmission occurred in Orange County, and the risk of local transmission remains low, the release said.
The comes days after the diagnoses of a 30-something man in Washington state on Tuesday and 60-something woman in Chicago on Friday. Both patients had also traveled to China.
The US Consulate in Wuhan have announced that it would evacuate its personnel and some private citizens aboard a charter flight, as they expect more Americans to be diagnosed with the newly discovered virus, which is believed to have an incubation period of about two weeks.
The CDC is screening passengers on direct and connecting flights from Wuhan at five major airports in Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Australia, France, and Canada all have reported confirmed cases of the virus, which Chinese state officials today warned was growing stronger.
