Confirmed 9th US case of virus from China in California

The ninth U.S. case of the new coronavirus that originated in central China was confirmed in California, the Centers for Disease Control reported Sunday.

The case was the second found in Santa Clara County, but health officials said this is not related to the first.

The infected person is a woman who recently traveled to Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak that began in December. The woman, a visitor to the United States, was never sick enough to be hospitalized but has been isolated.

This is the fourth reported case in California. Other U.S. cases were reported in Illinois (2), Massachusetts (1), Washington (1) and Arizona (1).

The first person-to-person spread of the new virus was confirmed in Chicago on Thursday. The individual is married to the Chicago woman who got sick from the virus after she returned from a trip to Wuhan.

The U.S. State Department has issued a “do not travel” warning to China as concerns grow over the coronavirus outbreak, and the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global emergency.

The death toll in China has reached 304, and the number of people infected worldwide has climbed past 14,550, the vast majority of them in China. The first death outside of China was reported Sunday in the Philippines.

There is no immediate threat to the general public.