First person-to-person transmission of coronavirus reported in US: Official

The US has confirmed its first person-to-person transmission of the deadly coronavirus on January 31, said the authorities. The country issued a Red Alert advisory (the highest level of alert) with the state department warning and issuing travel advisories to its citizens on not to travel to China after the WHO declared the outbreak a global health emergency. The latest case takes the total tally to six in the USA. 

The other five US cases were of travellers who developed the respiratory illness after returning from China. The latest case is of a husband of a Chicago woman who got sick from the virus after she returned from Wuhan.

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213 died, more than 9800 infected

Officials said that the man began feeling sick on Tuesday and was put in isolation that day. On Wednesday night, tests confirmed that he was infected with the virus. The death toll from the Coronavirus outbreak has risen to 213 with about 9800 confirmed cases in China after the worst-hit Hubei province reported 42 new fatalities on Friday.

Within the past 24 hours, over 1,200 new cases of the disease have been recorded in 17 Chinese cities, the Chinese media reported. The new figures came shortly after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Global Health Emergency over the deadly epidemic, which has spread to over 20 countries around the world.

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Daily death count increasing sharply

The latest figures show that the daily death count is increasing sharply, despite unprecedented measures imposed by China on Hubei a week ago. On Thursday alone, Chinese health officials had reported a nationwide total of 38 deaths, all but one of them in Hubei. The Chinese province on Friday also reported 1,220 new cases, slightly higher than the previous day.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the Coronavirus a Global Health Emergency. The Director-General of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the announcement on Thursday evening. 

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(with inputs from agencies)