Sikirimimimasikini
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- Dec 27, 2019
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Mkuu ficha ujinga wako, Coronavirus hivi sasa iko hata US na Italy
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#Washington post
Coronavirus Cases in the United States Reach 34, and More Are Expected
The contagion “represents a tremendous public health threat,” said one federal health official.
At least 34 people in the United States are infected with the coronavirus spreading from China, federal health officials said on Friday.
“This new virus represents a tremendous public health threat,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said at a news briefing.
But so far there has been no community spread of the infection in the United States, she added; all of the cases have been linked to overseas travel.
Eleven of the infections were diagnosed in travelers who fell ill after returning on their own from overseas, and two of their close contacts became infected. The other 21 patients are people who were returned to the United States.
More infections are expected among the people who were passengers aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship and are currently in quarantine, Dr. Messonnier said.
The coronavirus swept through the Diamond Princess after it docked in Yokohama, Japan, and the passengers were not allowed to disembark. More than 600 people onboard have been infected with the virus, testing has shown.
Diamond Princess passengers may have been in contact with infected people on the ship, “they are considered at high risk for infection,” Dr. Messonnier said.
Ten other passengers from the Diamond Princess tested positive for the virus in Japan, but are not being counted among the infected yet, because the C.D.C. has not confirmed the tests.
They will most likely be added to the case count, Dr. Messonnier said. Several Americans remain critically ill with the infection in Japanese hospitals.
On Thursday, the State Department posted an advisory urging U.S. citizens to “reconsider” traveling by cruise ship to or within Asia. The department had already advised against travel to China.
Of 329 people who were evacuated on two State Department flights, 18 are hospitalized, Dr. Messonnier said: 11 in Nebraska, five near California’s Travis Air Force Base and two near Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.
Fourteen of the Americans were found to have positive test results for the virus just before boarding two charter flights back to the United States. The State Department overruled objections from C.D.C. officials and placed the infected on the plane with healthy passengers.
Reports of the disagreement were first published by The Washington Post.
Asked during the briefing about the episode, Dr. Messonnier referred the question to Dr. William Walters, executive for operational medicine at the State Department’s medical services bureau.
on medicine by mail and worried that his supply would run out before he would be allowed to receive the new shipment.
Officials on the call did not offer a way to expedite delivery for him.
As of Friday, the coronavirus has infected more than 76,000 people, the vast majority in mainland China, and has killed at least 2,240.
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