Number Of COVID-19 Cases In US Reaches 34 - Health Agency

Faizan Hashmi Published February 22, 2020 | 03:35 PM

The number of cases the coronavirus disease, officially called COVID-19, in the United States has reached 34, following the repatriation of US citizens from the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship, docked in Japan, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2020) The number of cases the coronavirus disease, officially called COVID-19, in the United States has reached 34, following the repatriation of US citizens from the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship, docked in Japan, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

On Monday, the US finished evacuating its citizens from Diamond Princess. Upon their arrival to the US, the evacuees were put on a 14-day quarantine. While 40 other US citizens were diagnosed with coronavirus on board the ship and were not evacuated from Japan, media have reported that the US State Department and the CDC had a dispute concerning the fate of 14 people who were diagnosed with the coronavirus on the way to the airport. Nevertheless, media have reported that the US State Department insisted that they be evacuated despite the CDC's objections.

"As of this morning, when you break things up this way, we have 13 US cases versus 21 cases among people who were repatriated. The repatriated cases include 18 passengers from the Diamond Princess and three from the Wuhan repatriation flights," Nancy Messonnier, the director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during a press briefing on Friday.

Later that day, another coronavirus case was reported in California, by the Sacramento County's public health department, making the number of US domestic cases reach 14 people.

COVID-19 was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan, located in the Hubei province, in late December and has since spread to more than 25 countries. The outbreak has already left over 76,000 people infected worldwide and resulted in more than 2,300 fatalities.