12th coronavirus case confirmed in the US
Wisconsin health officials confirmed the 12th coronavirus case in the United States on Wednesday.
The patient, who recently visited Beijing and was exposed to known cases of coronavirus while traveling, tested positive for coronavirus and has not been hospitalized, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
The individual is isolated at home and is in good condition. Health officials will monitor the patient's close contacts, as well as the health care workers who cared for the individual, for signs of illness.
"The risk of getting sick from 2019 novel coronavirus in Wisconsin is very low," Jeanne Ayers, a state health officer, said in a statement.
The new case marks the 12th confirmed case of the novel virus in the United States.
While this was announced, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is shipping newly approved coronavirus tests to health labs across the country Wednesday so states can begin their own coronavirus testing.
Previously, all samples from patients were being tested at the CDC in Atlanta.
The new diagnostic tests will "greatly enhance our national capacity" to test for the virus, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during a news conference Wednesday. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the tests for emergency use Tuesday.
The tests are being shipped to 100 approved labs in the United States, with 200 test kits initially mailed out in the United States and another 200 test kits sent internationally. Each kit can perform diagnostics on roughly 700 to 800 patient samples.
The U.S. public health system relies heavily on states, Messonnier explained.
"Their ability to detect and confirm this virus is critical," she said.
At present, 206 people in the U.S. have tested negative for coronavirus and 12 have tested positive. The remaining tests are pending.
The United States has evacuated a number of its citizens from China amid the health crisis.
Two charter flights from the Chinese city of Wuhan, carrying a total of approximately 350 passengers, landed at the Travis Air Force Base in Northern California on Wednesday. One of the planes refueled at the base before continuing on to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar San Diego, according to a statement from U.S. Army Lt. Col. Christian Mitchell.
Upon arrival at the final destination, all travelers will be screened by CDC medical personnel and placed under a federally mandated 14-day quarantine. The U.S. Department of Defense "will work closely with our interagency partners and continue to provide support to the situation as requested," Mitchell said.
Two additional evacuation flights from Wuhan are expected arrive later this week, and passengers will go through a similar screening and quarantine process when they land at military bases in San Antonio, Texas, and Omaha, Nebraska.
The passengers who were quarantined last week after returning from Wuhan are expected to be released Feb. 11, as long as they and their immediate family members remain healthy.
"As of today, based on what we know about this virus, the far outside of incubation period is 14 days," Messonnier said.
In Geneva, the head of the World Health Organization stressed that the international community has a small window of time in which to contain the novel coronavirus at a Wednesday news conference.
"Invest today or pay more later," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO.
The WHO is requesting $675 million over the next three months, with the bulk of those dollars supporting countries with underdeveloped health infrastructures to prepare for the risk of coronavirus.
As part of its emergency response plan, the organization is sending gloves, respirators, isolation gowns and diagnostic tests from their warehouses to countries affected by the outbreak.
Tedros also highlighted the $100 million that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged to fight the global coronavirus outbreak.
"This pledge from the foundation will help us in speeding up the research," he said.
There is not yet a proven effective treatment for the new coronavirus.
In Japan, fears about how the new coronavirus could affect the 2020 Olympic Games, which are slated to take place in Tokyo this summer, have bubbled to the surface, with a top Olympic official saying that organizers were "extremely worried" about coronavirus disrupting them.
In the meantime, at least 10 people aboard a cruise ship moored in Japan have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, officials said.
Since arriving at the Japanese port of Yokohama on Monday, the Diamond Princess has been quarantined at sea while all passengers and crew on board undergo health screenings. The 10 people who tested positive for the newly identified virus have been taken ashore to a hospital in the coastal prefecture of Kanagawa, according to a statement from Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
"Quarantine of the cruise ship continues to be implemented," the ministry said.
A spokesperson for Princess Cruises, which operates the ship, said that those who tested positive include three Japanese guests, three guests from Hong Kong, two Australian guests, one American guest and one crew member from the Philippines. There were 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew members aboard the Diamond Princess. Approximately half the guests are from Japan, and there are over 400 passengers from the United States on the ship, according to the cruise line spokesperson.
The Diamond Princess will remain under quarantine in Yokohama with everyone on board for at least 14 days, as required by the Japanese health ministry, the Princess Cruises spokesperson said.
"The ship plans to go out to sea to perform normal marine operations including, but not limited to, the production of fresh water and ballast operations before proceeding alongside in Yokohama where food, provisions, and other supplies will be brought on board," the spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday night. "Guests will continue to be provided complimentary internet and telephone to use in order to stay in contact with their family and loved ones, and the ship’s crew is working to keep all guests comfortable."
"Princess Cruises will continue to fully cooperate with and follow the instructions of global medical authorities and the Japanese government," the spokesperson added.
The California-based company has already already cancelled the next two Diamond Princess cruises departing from Yokohama.
American author Gay Courter and her husband Phil, who are among those on board the quarantined ship, told ABC News they have been "confined" to their room, a mini suite, and the crew has halted room service.
"As far as jail cells go, it's pretty elegant," Courter said in an interview Tuesday. "It'd be a lot more pleasant if we can get food."
"Right now, the ship is in crisis mode," she added. "This is very serious and scary."
Courter, whose 1995 book "I Speak For This Child: True Stories of a Child Advocate" was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, said she and her husband are running low on their prescription medications. Courter is diabetic and takes insulin.
"I don't have 14 days' worth," she said. "We need to get out of here while we're still healthy."
The first cases of the new coronavirus were detected back in December in Wuhan, China, which has since become the epicenter of the epidemic. By early Thursday local time, Chinese state-run media was reporting 28,018 confirmed cases and 563 deaths on mainland China. Two people have also died in Hong Kong and one in the Philippines.
More than 200 cases have been confirmed in more than two dozen other nations and territories, including the 12 cases in the United States. The WHO has declared the outbreak a global health emergency.
The new coronavirus causes symptoms similar to pneumonia that can range from mild, such as a slight cough, to more severe, including fever and difficulty breathing, according to the CDC.
ABC News' Marilyn Heck, Luis Martinez, Jessica Mendoza, Joseph Simonetti, Karson Yiu and Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.
