Coronavirus: First person-to-person transmission in US reported

A woman who recently visited Wuhan in China and was diagnosed last week, has passed the virus to her husband

Authorities have confirmed the first person-to-person transmission of the coronavirus in the US.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that a woman in her 60s had transmitted the virus to her husband through close contact.

The initial patient had travelled to Wuhan in Hubei province, China, the centre of the outbreak, and was diagnosed last week.

She travelled to China in late December to care for her father who was sick, and returned to the US on 13 January.

Both husband and wife are hospitalised, though she is described as “doing quite well” and is being kept in “primarily for isolation”, according to Dr Jennifer Layden, chief medical officer and epidemiologist with the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Her husband has underlying medical issues, but is in a stable condition. It is believed he contracted the virus while his wife was symptomatic, and has not attended any large gatherings.

Officials say that they believe that “people in Illinois are at low risk”, and that those that came into close contact with the couple are being monitored.

There are now six confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US.

The World Health Organisation is set to decide later today whether to declare an international public health emergency.

More than 7,700 cases of coronavirus were reported worldwide by Thursday morning, up from 6,000 on Wednesday.

All but 68 of the confirmed cases are in China, where 170 people have died from the disease, according to official statistics.

22 countries and territories have confirmed cases, but as yet there have been no deaths outside of China.

Many countries are evacuating their citizens from Wuhan on specially chartered flights, with some being placed in quarantine once repatriated.

More than 30 airlines have cancelled flights to China.