President Trump is holding a press conference on coronavirus developments. Watch it live in the video player above.
Washington state health officials said Saturday a person has died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. It is the first reported coronavirus death in the United States.
Later on Saturday, President Trump said the person was a woman with a high medial risk in her late 50s.
He said at a news conference that 22 patients in the United States currently have coronavirus. He said additional cases are likely in the U.S. but that healthy individuals should be able to fully recover.
Vice President Mike Pence announced at the same press conference that travel restrictions on Iran are being expanded in response to the coronavirus outbreak. He said the State Department has been authorized to elevate travel warnings to parts of Italy and South Korea.
The World Health Organization said earlier this week the risk of the new coronavirus expanding worldwide is “very high.” There are now more than 85,000 cases worldwide – most of them in China, where the virus originated – and more than 2,900 deaths. As health officials try to contain the virus, it continues to put millions of people in the U.S. on edge and rattle the markets.
