A Washington state man has become the first American to fall victim to a newly identified coronavirus that has infected more than 300 people in China and several other Asian nations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Tuesday.
Global public health officials are growing increasingly alarmed about the virus, initially called 2019-nCov and first identified in December in Wuhan, China.
Dozens of cases have been identified in other major Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Four cases have been identified outside the country, in Japan, Thailand, South Korea and Taiwan. At least six people have died.
The CDC said Tuesday that one case has been identified in Everett, Wash. The patient is a 30-year-old man who had recently traveled from Wuhan, a CDC official said Tuesday. The Washington State Department of Health said the man was being treated at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, about half an hour north of Seattle.
He is in good condition and currently hospitalized “out of an abundance of caution” and short-term monitoring, the CDC said.
What Are Your Thoughts?
