LOC01:08
22:08 GMT
WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (KUNA) -- The US discovered its first case of the novel Coronavirus (nCoV) after a man in the state of Washington, who had recently been on a trip to Wuhan, China, was found to be a carrier.
The man in his 30s, who returned to the US last week, had been showing pneumonia-like symptoms that are common to the disease since December last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement.
Originally thought to be only spread from animals to humans, the CDC said there were "growing indications" of the occurance of human-to-human infection.
Although, it conceded, it remains "unclear how easily this virus is spreading between people."
The CDC added it had been implementing health screenings across all of its major airports nationwide since Friday.
Thought to have originated in the southeastern Chinese city of Wuhan, nearly 300 cases have been identified so far, with carriers found in at least five more countries. (end)
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