Mexico Confirms Its First 2 Coronavirus Cases
MEXICO CITY (CBSLA) — Mexican health officials have confirmed their first two cases of the novel coronavirus.
According to the Associated Press, Mexico Assistant Health Secretary Hugo Lopez-Gatell said Friday that two patients had contracted the disease, one of whom had made contact with someone who had traveled to northern Italy.
One of the two patients was in Mexico City and the other was in the state of Sinaloa, Gatell said.
At least five family members of the first patient were placed in quarantine, the AP reports.
There were 59 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S. as of Thursday. Of those, 33 were in California.
Of the 33, 24 were from repatriation flights, according to the California Department of Public Health, meaning they were U.S. citizens who had contracted the disease outside the country and had been flown back for treatment and quarantine. Most of those were people who got the virus while aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship off the coast of Japan.
On Tuesday, state health officials reported that a female resident of Northern California's Solano County became the first patient in the nation to contract the disease through community-spread. She did not travel and was not knowingly exposed to anyone who was infected. She was being treated in the Sacramento area.
A flight attendant for Korean Air who worked several flights out of Los Angeles International Airport was diagnosed with coronavirus earlier this week. The 24-year-old was diagnosed in southern Seoul.
Meanwhile, concerns over the spread of the coronavirus forced organizers to postpone the Korea Times Music Festival at the Hollywood Bowl.
According to the CDC, COVID-19 is spread from person-to-person through close contact, usually within 6 feet, and mainly via respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. People are likely most contagious when they are most symptomatic.
