SAN ANTONIO — Another case of the new coronavirus infection has been confirmed in a U.S. evacuee from China, this time in Texas.
Health officials announced the case Thursday in a person who had been evacuated from China to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. The patient in stable condition is in isolation at a nearby hospital. The infection was confirmed through laboratory testing on Wednesday night.
Of the 91 evacuees who arrived at Lackland Air Force Base, the patient was the only one exhibiting symptoms.
This is the 15th confirmed U.S. case of the coronavirus, now named COVID-19. Two earlier ones were found among evacuees who were flown last week from the Chinese city of Wuhan to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in Southern California.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there will likely be additional cases of the virus "in the coming days and weeks."
The new U.S. case comes the same day Japan announced its first death from the virus. Health Minister Katsunobu Kato says the first fatality is a woman in her 80s.
In China, 254 new daily deaths have been reported. Daily virus cases have also spiked after new methodology was applied in the hardest-hit province of Hubei as to how cases are categorized.
The total deaths in China from the more than two-month-old outbreak as reported on Thursday stood at 1,380, with the total number of confirmed cases in China mounting to 63,851.
The latest figures reported by each government's health authority as of Friday in Beijing:
- Mainland China: 1,380 deaths among 63,851 cases, mostly in the central province of Hubei.
- Hong Kong: 56 cases, 1 death
- Macao: 10
- Japan: 256, including 218 from a cruise ship docked in Yokohama, 1 death
- Singapore: 58
- Thailand: 33
- South Korea: 28
- Malaysia: 19
- Taiwan: 18
- Vietnam: 16
- Germany: 16
- United States: 15. Separately, one U.S. citizen died in China
- Australia: 14
- France: 11
- United Kingdom: 9
- United Arab Emirates: 8
- Canada: 7
- Philippines: 3 cases, including 1 death
- India: 3
- Italy: 3
- Russia: 2
- Spain: 2
- Belgium: 1
- Nepal: 1
- Sri Lanka: 1
- Sweden: 1
- Cambodia: 1
- Finland: 1
The sudden spike wiped out a glimmer of hope following two straight days in which the number of new coronavirus cases dropped.
