Coronavirus News: US Government Bans Travel to South Korea, Italy and Iran

On Saturday the U.S. government announced that there will be a travel restriction affecting countries that have the highest number of confirmed coronavirus infections. The countries are South Korea, Italy and Iran. The announcement also follows the first death of a patient in the United States.

There has been a large international worry as cases of coronavirus soar in South Korea, Italy, and Iran. It alarmed not only the neighboring countries, but all governments worldwide. Some 48 countries are now affected by COVID-19. The number of reported infections doubled in Italy and Iran within just two days.

According to Vice President Mike Pence the travel ban also extends to foreign nationals who traveled from South Korea, Italy and Iran in the past 14 days. The state department also increased the advice to Americans not to travel to the countries that were mentioned due to an increase of the outbreak.

Right before the conference at the white house, health officials had already announced the first death of the patient in Washington State. According to Vice President Mike Pence, the patient was a man who already had other health complications.

As of Saturday, more information was reported that most people who had been infected with the virus came from South Korea, France and Qatar. Oregon and California also reported new cases regarding people who have not traveled to those countries that were hit hard by the outbreak or had contact with anyone who had coronavirus which is considered community transmission by health professionals.

There are also reports that three new cases of the virus, including the person who died, were with circumstances that were suggested that a person-to-person spread cases of the disease in the community.

One patient was identified to be a health worker at a nursing facility, the other patient was also a female resident aged 70 from the same nursing facility, this report was announced from Washington on Friday.

Santa Clara County in California also reported two cases of community transmission and one case was from Solano County. On Saturday, Illinois reported a third case, but the cause of how the person acquired the virus was not stated.

Other reports also include the five new cases that were announced on Saturday brought the number of diseases in the United States to 24 and the repatriations were not included. Reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that 47 of the travellers from Wuhan, China to the United States who rode the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship were also infected by Coronavirus.

Washington also announced the first outbreaks were in a long term nursing facility and that adults with poor immune system can also face high risks of having the disease.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also widened their scope of testing coronavirus by speeding up every hospital's ability test. Some were just worried due to the changes that fell short in minimizing logistical burdens.

In addition to the huge outbreak in China and South Korea, Italy became the third country to have the most number of outbreaks with 1000 cases of the virus, 401 of those patients were hospitalized and the others were treated at their home.