On Saturday, officials told about the eighth U.S. case of the Wuhan coronavirus that was detected in Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Department of Health stated in a press briefing that a 20-year-old man, who just came back from China and lived in Boston, tested positively.
The infected man, who was not named, had traveled to Wuhan, the city where the virus emerged.
“We’re grateful that this young man is improving and sought medical attention instantly,” said Dr Monica Bharel, Public Health Commissioner of Massachusetts. She added that the city has been readying for a likely case of this new coronavirus and that we were lucky that smart clinicians took appropriate measures quickly.
It was the first coronavirus case confirmed in Massachusetts. Officials expressed that the risk to people living in the state stayed low. Some of the prior cases in the U.S. were reported in California, Arizona, Illinois and Washington State.
The outbreak has reached to more than 20 countries across the globe, but the overwhelming abundance of cases have been from mainland China.
The U.S. President Donald J. Trump said on Friday that the new coronavirus was a public health emergency in the United States and imposed new travel restrictions between the China and U.S.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar stated that the U.S. would cancel an entry to foreign nationals who have visited China during the past two weeks, aside from the immediate family of U.S. citizens.
Over 12,000 cases of new coronavirus have been seen globally, with death toll reached over 259 as of Saturday morning.
Massachusetts health authorities announced they were operating closely with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to contain any further risk of the virus outbreak.
