The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention late Sunday announced that another case of the Wuhan coronavirus has been confirmed in the State of Arizona. The case brings the total to five in the United States.
The number includes new patients in the Phoenix and Los Angeles areas, as well as cases reported in Chicago and Seattle over the weekend.
The increase follows updates as top Chinese health authorities delivered some worrisome news regarding measures being taken to combat the highly contagious disease.
In the US, CDC Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases director Nancy Messonnier said that another 25 people have tested negative for the virus, but at least 100 more possible cases are being examined. Messonnier added more cases are expected to be reported in the US in the coming days.
Several people have been inflicted with the coronavirus in American soil: a 30-year old man in Washington state; a 60-year old woman in Chicago; a 50-year old man in California; and a fifth patient, in Arizona. All had been reported to have flown from Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic.
Messonnier disclosed that there is no proof of a human-to-human contagion of the coronavirus in the US, and described its risk to health as "low at this time."
Medical experts around the world are racing to keep the outbreak from getting worse, after over 2,000 people have been reported to be inflicted in China, with 56 dead after contracting the disease.
Meanwhile, in Ivory Coast, an unidentified student who flew back from Beijing on Saturday, is currently being examined after showing flu-like symptoms.
This will be the West African country's first case of the coronavirus, if confirmed. The 34-year-old female patient is being isolated in a hospital, officials disclosed.
Based on a statement released by health officials of Ivory Coast, the student has resided in China in the last 5 years, and had exhibited flu-like symptoms prior to her flight to Abidjan. Results of her tests were expected to be known, Sunday evening.
The deadly virus, which was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has not shown any signs of let-up and the World Health Organization has not issued any official statement declaring the outbreak as a "global health crisis."
Currently referred to as 2019-nCoV, the virus is known as a new strain of coronavirus not previously identified in humans. Since the pandemic broke out in Wuhan, many African nations have carried out tight monitoring on flights arriving from China.
