First patient of Chinese killer virus reported in US

An American in Washington state has been infected with the deadly coronavirus spreading from China, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sources told CNN.

No details about the patient’s identity, their recent travel history, whether anyone else may have been exposed or where they are being treated had been released at the time of publication.

The deadly Chinese coronavirus that has sickened more than 300 people and killed six has come to the US as of Wednesday.

With the addition of the US, the newly-identified coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, China, has now spread to four countries.

CDC officials are set to brief reporters on new information concerning the deadly epidemic on Tuesday afternoon.

The first US case comes less than a week after the CDC announced that three airports – John F Kennedy International, Los Angeles, and San Francisco – would begin screening passengers arriving from Wuhan for the virus.

Officials in China have confirmed that the SARS-like coronavirus, which can trigger life-threatening respiratory infections, can and has been passed from human to human, including through saliva.

Vaccine experts at Baylor University are working on modifying a vaccine they designed to prevent SARS to protect against the new, related coronavirus, but the school’s Dean of Tropical Medicine, which is developing the shot, Dr Peter Hotez, told DailyMail.com that its likely years away from deployment.

China’s National Health Commission yesterday confirmed that the never-before-seen SARS-like coronavirus had spread between humans.

And now the body has revealed the unnamed infection is spread from the lungs and may travel in saliva – such as through coughs.

Taiwan today confirmed its first case of the lethal bug, which has killed six people in the Chinese city of Wuhan, home to 11million people.

As Taiwan becomes the fourth territory to report a case of the virus outside of China, following Thailand, South Korea and Japan, it can also be revealed that:

A total of 325 people have caught the virus across Asia, including 20 healthcare workers

Cases have risen six-fold in the space of a few days, with just 48 confirmed cases on January 17.

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Australia and the Philippines are investigating suspected cases of the coronavirus, which causes a fever and can cause pneumonia

North Korea has temporarily banned all tourists from entering the country over fears the Chinese coronavirus will spread

South Korean budget airline T’way Air has postponed the launch of its cheap flights to Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak

Experts from China’s National Health Commission have urged Wuhan’s 11 million residents not to leave the city

The World Health Organization will hold a meeting tomorrow to discuss making the outbreak a public health emergency

A leading expert has said the coronavirus may have been lurking in animals for decades before adapting to infect humans

A renowned Chinese doctor investigating the outbreak has caught the killer SARS-like infection himself

Countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan and Malaysia have upped their screening methods to detect travellers with a fever in airports

Shocking footage captured medics wearing hazmat suits screening Air China passengers for the virus before letting them leave

Residents in various Chinese cities are queuing to buy face masks as vendors sell the medical products for 10 times more than normal

Public health officials in the UK have instructed NHS hospitals on how to deal with cases amid fears the virus will spread

The US National Institutes of Health is working on a vaccine against the virus – but it will be months before it can be tested on humans

One virologist admitted he was scared the virus will spread over the Lunar New Year holidays, with millions of Chinese residents set to travel

Another renowned scientist described the coronavirus as being ‘one of the newest and biggest global health threats’

Stock markets in China and Hong Kong dipped amid fears tourists will refrain from travelling, despite people being urged not to panic.

Professor Zhong Nanshan, leader of the National Health Commission’s expert team, revealed the virus is likely to be spread by saliva in a press conference today.

He told the meeting: ‘As of now, it is affirmative that the new strain of coronavirus can be passed between humans.

‘The virus is spread through respiratory system and distance of impact is not long, but it is possible that the virus was passed after being stuck to saliva.’

Professor Zhong said officials must ‘quarantine the patients and stop them from contacting others’. Antibiotics will not tackle the virus because the drugs only work on bacterial infections.

And he added that the outbreak will not spread like SARS, so long as patients are quarantined immediately and their contacts are traced.