World Health Organization Declares Global Health Emergency Due To Coronavirus
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Federal health officials have confirmed the first person-to-person case of the coronavirus in the United States. The announcement comes as the World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a global health emergency.
Coronavirus continues to spread in China, where there are more than 8,000 cases and 170 dead.
Here in the United States, there are now six confirmed cases. The newest patient is the spouse of someone who'd traveled to China, so this wasn't a random transmission.
Health officials say the person-to-person transmission involves a previously-confirmed case -- a woman in her 60s who had traveled to Wuhan, China in December and returned to Chicago earlier this month.
She infected her husband. Health officials say both are hospitalized in stable condition.
"The risk to the general public in Illinois remains low. This person-to-person contact was between two very close contacts -- a husband and wife," said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, with the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Health officials are tracking people the couple had been in contact with.
"We could see more cases among individuals who have had close contact," Ezike said.
The news comes as the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency. The agency praised China's response to the outbreak but says other countries with weaker health systems are at risk.
"The only way we will defeat this outbreak is for all countries to work together in a spirit of solidarity and cooperation," said WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
In Italy, thousands of passengers, including 114 Americans, were not allowed to leave a cruise ship while tests were conducted on a female passenger from China who came down with flu-like symptoms.
In California, 200 American citizens who were evacuated from Wuhan on a chartered plane, are being monitored for a few days.
Coronavirus, a respiratory illness, is spread like a cold and the flu but at this point, it appears to be contained to people with a connection to China.
"Right now, the risk to you is very low but it always makes good sense to make sure you wash your hands, make sure you cover your cough and stay home when you're sick," said James Garrow, with the Philadelphia Health Department.
That advice is especially important now with the flu being so widespread. Health officials are continuing to say influenza is a bigger danger than coronavirus, but they are expecting to have more cases of coronavirus.
