Live updates: First U.S coronavirus case of unknown origin confirmed in Northern California, a sign the virus may be spreading in a local area
Trump holds news conference on coronavirus
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By
Michael Brice-Saddler,
Simon Denyer,
Siobhán O'Grady and
James McAuley
Feb. 26, 2020 at 5:40 p.m. CST
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BREAKING: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been informed of the first case of the coronavirus in a person who did not recently return from a foreign country or have contact with a confirmed case, according to a person briefed on the case. Officials have begun tracing the contacts of the resident to find out how the person may have been infected and who else might have been exposed..
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
A new case of coronavirus was confirmed in the United States on Wednesday as several other countries also confirmed new cases and deaths, and President Trump called for a 6:30 p.m. news conference with officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others to discuss the spread of the virus. He accused the media of stoking panic about financial markets.
The Dow Jones industrial average endured its worst two-day slump in four years Tuesday. On Wednesday, it was up 300 points shortly after open, but closed down about 124 points.
On European and Asian financial markets, economic alarms continued to flash, however, with cases spreading and little sign that the epidemic was relenting after the CDC warned of the “inevitable” spread in the United States of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
France reported the first death of a French citizen from the epidemic as cases grew rapidly across Europe, with Spain confirming eight new cases in the past 24 hours and new infections reported in Germany, Greece, France, Croatia, Austria and Switzerland. A new case in Brazil marks the first known case in Latin America. Although China announced a decline in new confirmed cases on Wednesday, the number of infected people soared in South Korea to more than 1,200, with more expected in the coming days as the state attempts to test 200,000 people.
Here are the latest developments:
● A new case of coronavirus was confirmed in the United States on Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 60. The CDC did not specify Wednesday how that person contracted the virus.
● France reported the first coronavirus death of a French citizen amid a dramatic uptick in cases within Europe. Most new cases are connected to an outbreak in northern Italy, still the largest on the continent.
● Brazil confirmed its first case, which also marks the first known case in Latin America.
● Statistics released by the Chinese government showed a decline in the number of new cases in mainland China; an additional 406 cases were reported Wednesday morning, along with 52 deaths. All but five of the new cases and all of the new deaths were in Hubei province.
● South Korea reported 284 additional cases of the coronavirus Wednesday, raising the national tally to 1,261. That number is expected to rise in coming days as the country begins the mass testing of more than 200,000 members of a
messianic religious movement at the center of an outbreak in the city of Daegu.
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