Health authorities in Washington confirmed a second death in the U.S. from the new coronavirus on Sunday.
The patient was a man in his 70s, who was hospitalized at EvergreenHealth, a hospital in Washington State, according to Seattle and King County Department of Public Health.
The first coronavirus death on American soil was reported on Saturday, also from King County in Washington state.
There were also three other new cases in King County, as of Sunday afternoon, all of whom are in critical condition. That brings the total number of confirmed cases to ten in the county, authorities said.
In all, Washington State’s count stands at 13 confirmed cases and two deaths, according to the state’s health department website. The state also said it had 231 people under public health supervision.
On Saturday, health officials said that more than 50 people in a Washington state nursing facility called Life Care are sick and being tested for the virus.
Several cases in Washington state, California and Oregon have raised fears over the local, person-to-person transmission of the virus in people who have not recently traveled or been in contact with infected people.
New York City also reported its first case on Sunday night — a woman who recently traveled to Iran and is currently isolated in her Manhattan home.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 69 cases in the U.S. as of Friday at 4 p.m., the most recent data available.
Since emerging from Wuhan, China two months ago, COVID-19 has spread to at least 60 countries, infecting more than 87,100 people and killing at least 2,980 as of 4 p.m. ET Sunday, according to data compiled by the World Health Organization.
It’s shuttered commerce across most of China as officials there tried to contain the fast-spreading outbreak and shaved 12% off the Dow Jones Industrial Average last week, marking its worst week since the 2008 financial crisis.
