The United States has 34 confirmed cases of coronaviruses and takes precautions against the possibility of a global pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported. Of the total, 13 cases were diagnosed in the country and another 21 among returnees They returned on a trip.
“This new virus represents a tremendous threat to public health,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, told a news conference. “Now we are drinking and will continue to drink aggressive measures unprecedented to reduce the impact of this virus on communities in the United States. “
The 13 US cases include seven in California, one in Massachusetts, one in the state of Washington, one in Arizona, two in Illinois and one in Wisconsin. In two cases, the transmission of Covid-19 virus occurred from person to person: once in Illinois and once in California.
The 21 returnees include 18 passengers infected with the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was docked in quarantine in Japan, plus three who had previously been evacuated from China.
Some Americans who were aboard the Diamond Princess remain hospitalized in Japan and are “seriously ill”, said Messonnier.
Until now only one American has died because of the virus; a 60-year-old citizen who became ill in Wuhan, epicenter of the outbreak.
The number of American patients may increase as there are another 10 passengers among the Diamond Princess evacuees who tested positive for the virus in Japan. The United States must confirm the results of the Japanese test.
In addition, the CDC expects there will be more people infected with the cruise that could have been asymptomatic when they returned to US territory.
Messonnier said that the origin of the virus is not known with certainty and that there is still no vaccine or specific treatment.
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“We are not seeing the spread within communities here in the United States, yet, but it is very possible, even likely, that it will eventually happen,” the expert warned.
The CDC is working with state and local health departments as well as with supply chain partners, hospitals, pharmacies and manufacturers to understand what it takes to prepare the public health workforce “to respond to local and local cases. the possibility of the outbreak becoming a pandemic, “he added.
“This will help the CDC understand when we may need to take more aggressive measures to ensure that frontline health care workers have access to the supplies they need,” he said.
He also said that The United States could adopt quarantine and closure measures for public centers as China has done.
The official rejected press reports that the CDC opposed the State Department’s decision to repatriate 300 Americans from the Diamond Princess cruise ship along with some who were ill. “We are one government, working together,” he said.
Since its appearance at the end of last year in the Chinese province of Wuhan, Covid-19 has made more than 76,000 people worldwide sick and killed more than 2,200.
The lethal virus has already been detected in several countries. Iran has been the last to join, with 18 cases detected and 4 deaths in just two days, a situation that has been of “great concern” for the World Health Organization (WHO).
Edited by Ivette Leyva
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