First death from coronavirus in USA
Washington health officials reported the first patient death from coronavirus in the United States on Saturday (Feb.29), according to news release, as federal and local health officials scramble to contain the rapidly spreading the disease.
Health officials in King County, Washington said they would provide an update on the patient who died at 1:00pm Pacific Time (2100 GMT), and that the patient was among one of the state's new cases of the disease.
"Health officials will be providing the latest updates regarding novel coronavirus cases in King County, including new people identified with the infection, one of whom died," the news release said.
The report of the first coronavirus death in the United States capped a week of stock market upheaval and escalating concern among state and federal health officials about the spread of the disease, which has infected more than 67 people in the United States and spread across 46 countries.
Most of the US cases have occurred in travelers from China, where the virus originated.
But public health officials have also identified four "presumptive" coronavirus cases believed to have emerged from community transmission of the infection, signaling a turning point in strategies needed to contain the disease in the United States.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a statement late on Friday citing three cases of unknown origin newly diagnosed by state public health authorities - one each in California, Oregon and Washington state.
If confirmed by the CDC, along with a similar case of unknown origin announced on Wednesday in California, that would bring to four the number of diagnosed individuals in the United States with no history of travel to a country where the virus is circulating and no close contact with an infected person.
Taken together, the four cases are a sign the virus is now spreading within at least four separate locations on the US West Coast spanning nearly 900 miles (1,448 km), from California's Silicon Valley region in Santa Clara County north to the Puget Sound near Seattle.
US health authorities say it means the respiratory disease that has infected nearly 80,000 people and killed more than 2,800 in China is no longer an imported phenomenon but has taken up residence in the United States.