The United States has confirmed its first case of the Coronavirus, a Washington state man who recently traveled to China was diagnosed with the virus.
The patient, a man in his 30s, is the first confirmed U.S. case of the newly identified illness.
Washington state governor, Jay Inslee encouraged residents not to panic over the discovery.
Also screening efforts at U.S. airports have been intensified to detect travelers from the central Chinese city of Wuhan who may have symptoms of the respiratory virus.
Meanwhile in China, nine people have been killed and there are now 440 confirmed cases of the outbreak that originated from a market with illegal wildlife in Wuhan.
It has now spread to several Chinese provinces as well as overseas with Authorities admitting that the country was now at the “most critical stage” of prevention and control.