8th coronavirus case confirmed in US

 

A Boston man in his 20s is the eighth confirmed case of coronavirus in the United States – and the first in Massachusetts, Daily Mail reports.

According to officials in the commonwealth, the man, a resident of The Hub, recently traveled to Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus first emerged.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Boston Public Health Commission were notified by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the positive test results late Friday evening.

After returning to Massachusetts, the man sought treatment, according to health officials.

Since his return, he has been placed in isolation and his symptoms are being closely monitored.

‘Our priority is not only to protect and inform the residents of Boston but also to help this man continue to recover. We are pleased that he is doing well,’ Boston Public Health Commission Executive Director Rita Nieves said.

‘Right now, we are not asking Boston residents to do anything differently. The risk to the general public remains low.

‘And we continue to be confident we are in a good position to respond to this developing situation.’

Elsewhere in the US, three confirmed cases have been reported in California and one each in Washington State and Arizona.

There have been two cases reported in Illinois – the second case being the first time that the disease has been transmitted from person to person in the US.

The viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 11,900 people globally.

On the mainland, 11,791 cases have been confirmed.

In addition, Hong Kong has 12 cases and Macao has five.

Most of the 259 deaths have been in central Hubei province, where illnesses from the new type of coronavirus were first detected in December.

Experts believe that the worst is yet to come.

According to a study which appeared in The Lancet on Saturday, the number of infected people in Wuhan is likely to reach as many as 75,815 people.

The number is the result of a study conducted by scientists from the University of Hong Kong.

It is based on the assumption that each infected person could have passed the virus on to 2.68 other people.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon said on Saturday that it had approved a request from the Department of Health and Human Services for assistance for housing support for 1,000 people who may need to be quarantined after arriving from abroad due to the coronavirus.

In a statement, the Pentagon said that HHS had asked the Pentagon to provide several facilities capable of ‘housing at least 250 people in individual rooms’ through February 29.

It said that Defense Department personnel would only provide housing support, while HHS would be responsible for all care and transportation.

The statement added that four military installations had been selected in case they were required, including two in California, one in Colorado, and one in Texas.

China faced mounting isolation from international travel curbs and flight suspensions on Saturday, with Russia to start pulling out its citizens next week.

With Britain, Russia and Sweden among the countries confirming their first infections, the virus has now spread to more than two dozen nations, sending governments scurrying to limit their exposure.

China toughened its own quarantine measures at the center of the outbreak in Hubei province, a day after the United States temporarily barred entry to foreigners who had been in China within the past two weeks.

‘Foreign nationals, other than immediate family of US citizens and permanent residents… will be denied entry into the United States,’ Health Secretary Alex Azar said.

The epidemic has led to mass evacuations of foreign citizens as world airlines halt flights, and risks exacerbating a slowdown in growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

The Russian military was to start evacuating Russian citizens from China on Monday and Tuesday, Interfax and TASS news agencies reported.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying the evacuations would be from regions that had been most affected by the outbreak.

Peskov first said that evacuation will start on Saturday but later corrected himself.

Russia has already reported its first two cases of coronavirus and restricted direct flights to China.

China’s National Health Commission said there were 2,102 new confirmed infections in China as of Friday, bringing the total to 11,791.

Around two dozen other countries have reported more than 130 cases. The death toll rose by 46 to 259, all in China.

The Chinese data would suggest it is less deadly than the 2002-03 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed nearly 800 people of the some 8,000 it infected, although such numbers can evolve rapidly.

Inside China, Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, was under a virtual quarantine, with roads sealed off and public transport shut down.

Elsewhere, authorities placed growing restrictions on travel and business.

In Beijing, counters were set up at the entrances of housing estates, where volunteers wearing red arm bands and masks noted down details of residents coming back from their hometowns after the Lunar New Year holiday.

‘As long as I am properly protected and don’t go to crowded places, I don’t feel scared at all about my hometown or Beijing,’ said a 58-year-old migrant worker surnamed Sun.