US officials have confirmed the country's 12th case of coronavirus in Wisconsin, where a patient is quarantined at home after coming into contact with an infected person while travelling in China. The patient was not ill enough to require hospitalisation and is "doing well".
Six coronavirus cases were confirmed in California, two in Illinois, and one case each in Arizona, Massachusetts and Washington.
The latest patient is an adult with a history of travel to Beijing prior to becoming ill, according to Wisconsin Health Department officials.
State health office Jeanne Ayers asserts that the risk of getting sick front the virus in that state is "very low" while health agencies are "responding aggressively" and monitoring developments.
Reported deaths related to the flu-like respiratory illness have spiked to nearly 500, all in China, where an outbreak of the illness has spread to more than two dozen countries, sickening more than 24,000 people.
Three cases were recently reported in California, where a 57-year-old man who travelled to China exposed himself and his wife to the virus. The state's health department officials also confirmed a Bay Area patient who recently returned from outbreak epicentre Wuhan.
The US government has imposed drastic travel restrictions to prevent travel into the US from China, denying entry to foreign nationals who have recently visited the country and subjecting travellers to quarantine for up to two weeks after returning to the US.
Travel restrictions follow suspended flight services from most commercial airlines. All remaining Chinese travel to the US is being funnelled into seven US airports, where passengers will face additional screening and possible self-quarantine.
This week, several planes carrying passengers from Wuhan into the US will be directed to three military bases, where passengers will be screened, monitored and evaluated by personnel from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before they're quarantined for two weeks.
CDC officials have assured that the risk of coronavirus exposure to the general public in the US remains low.
