Second case of new coronavirus confirmed in U.S.

By Hana mae Nassar and The Associated Press

CHICAGO (NEWS 1130) – A second case of the novel coronavirus has been confirmed in the U.S.

The patient is a woman in her 60s from Chicago. She apparently visited Wuhan, where the outbreak is believed to be centred, last month, before returning to the U.S. in January without showing any signs off illness.

However, three to four days after she returned, the woman called her doctor to report feeling sick.

Chicago’s public health commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady, says the patient is doing well, and remains in the hospital “primarily for infection control.”

The first case in the U.S. — and North America — was reported in Washington state earlier this week. As of Friday, the man was reportedly in satisfactory condition in an isolation unit at an Everett-area medical centre.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expecting more Americans to be diagnosed with the newly discovered virus in coming days, as worldwide the number of confirmed cases has passed 800.

The confirmation of the second case in the U.S. comes as China shut down more cities in an effort to contain the spread of the virus, which has left more than two dozen people dead in that country. Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases has risen to more than 800 people.

In Wuhan, China has announced plans to build a 1,000-bed hospital dedicated to treating patients infected with the new coronavirus. It’s modeled after the Xiaotangshan SARS hospital in Beijing, which was built from scratch in 2003 during the SARS outbreak.

Here in Canada, the federal health minister says public health workers continue to look for developments in the outbreak in China.

However, she says the situation in Canada has not changed for the time being.

“There are no confirmed cases in Canada, and our systems continue to work very collaboratively together,” Minister Patty Hajdu says.

Public heath authorities continue to tell Canadians they don’t need to worry about the prospect of mass quarantines if any cases are confirmed in this country.

The virus can cause fever, coughing, wheezing and pneumonia. It is a member of the coronavirus family that’s a close cousin to the deadly SARS and MERS viruses that have caused outbreaks in the past.

Still, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says the immediate risk to the American public is believed to be low. It does mention, however, that the situation continues to evolve.

Editor’s note: We have updated this article to correctly refer to the new virus.

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