The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. has passed 30, health officials said Friday. Most of the 34 cases are people who were evacuated by the U.S. from a cruise ship in Japan over the weekend, Dr. Nancy Messonnier of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters.
Eighteen of the over 300 Americans evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship were infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, according to Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. All of the Americans evacuated from the ship are nearly halfway through a two-week quarantine since returning to the U.S. late Sunday night.
Only three of the Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak, have tested positive for the disease, Messonnier said; one was discharged from a San Diego hospital this week after being declared fully recovered. Hundreds of Americans who were evacuated from Wuhan have completed their quarantine and pose no health threat, she said.
In Japan, people who tested negative for the disease are being allowed to disembark from the Diamond Princess following the end of a two-week quarantine. The ship was the site of the largest outbreak of the disease outside China.
People in California who have recently returned from visiting China are being asked to stay home for the rest of the month to help stop the spread of the new coronavirus, CBS Los Angeles reports. The California Department of Public Health said Friday that 7,600 people have been urged to self-quarantine: stay home, monitor their health and limit interaction with other people.
The number of new cases reported in China seemed to remain on a downward trajectory Friday, though changes in the way the infection is diagnosed have made it difficult to track the true course of the outbreak. There are now more than 76,000 confirmed cases globally and more than 2,200 deaths — most of them in China.
