Coronovirus: US Confirms Second Case Of China Virus, More Than 60 Under Investigation

A woman in Chicago in her sixties was on Friday confirmed as the second patient on US soil infected with a deadly new virus that has sickened hundreds in China, health officials said, with more than 60 other suspected cases under investigation. The woman returned from Wuhan with the coronovirus infection, according to authorities. 

"I'm pleased to report she is clinically doing well and is in stable condition," said Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health was quoted as saying by AFP.

The cases currently being monitored in the US stretch across 22 different states, including the first patient in Washington state and the new case in Illinois, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters on a conference call hosted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.

The flu-like coronavirus, first identified on December 31, has already killed at least 26 people and infected more than 900 worldwide. Apart from US and China, cases have been identified in Thailand (4), Singapore (3), Vietnam (2), South Korea (2), Macau (2), Hong Kong (2) and Nepal (1).

Meanwhile, Nine people--seven in Kerala, two in Mumbai and one in Hyderabad--who were among the hundreds of passengers who returned from China in the recent days are under observation in hospitals to check for possible exposure to the deadly novel coronavirus, central and state officials said on Friday.

Officials in Kerala said another 73 people were being kept under medical surveillance at their homes in the state.

As over 20,000 passengers returning from mainland China and Hong Kong underwent thermal screenings at the seven international airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) in Delhi has set up an isolation ward and kept beds ready for providing treatment to any suspected case of the respiratory infection.

(With AFP and PTI Inputs)