https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs...IrlbyHk1svyW3w
Five patients in New York state were being tested for possibly contracting the coronavirus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office confirmed Monday.
According to state Department of Health officials, five people in New York were being isolated and under observation as their cases were referred for testing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Four other New Yorkers tested were deemed to have not contacted the virus.
As of Monday afternoon, officials in New York had not confirmed anyone contracting coronavirus in the state.
State officials say the risk of contraction in New York is low, but they urge caution in the wake of the flu-like virus that has killed 81 people in China and infected 2,750.
With New York City being home to the largest Chinese population outside of China, and as travel increases ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations, officials asked New Yorkers to be extra cautious.
"We are asking New Yorkers to do is that is if they have traveled to Wuhan in the last 14 days, and they find themselves with symptoms of fever and a cough or shortness of breath, that they contact their provider and share this information," Dr. Oxiris Barbot, New York City's health commissioner, said Friday.
Symptoms of the virus include:
Runny nose
Headache
Cough
Sore throat
Fever
The virus can also cause wheezing and pneumonia. It is a member of the coronavirus family that's a close cousin to the deadly SARS and MERS viruses that have caused outbreaks in the past.
The spread of the illness is being watched around the globe, with a small number of cases appearing in other countries. South Korea confirmed its fourth case Monday. Cases also have been confirmed in Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, the U.S., Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, France, Canada, and Australia.
The U.S. cases are in Washington state, Chicago, southern California, and Arizona.
China on Monday expanded its sweeping efforts to contain a deadly virus, extending the Lunar New Year holiday to keep the public at home and avoid spreading infection as the death toll rose to 81.
Mongolia closed its vast border with China, and Hong Kong and Malaysia announced they would bar entry to visitors from the Chinese province at the center of the outbreak following a warning by medical officials that the virus's ability to spread was growing. Travel agencies were ordered to cancel group tours nationwide, adding to the rising economic losses.
Stock markets around the world were down sharply Monday as the lockdown in Chinese cities was expected to stifle travel, shopping and business for millions of people. Though markets in much of Asia, including China, were closed for the Lunar New Year, they slumped more than 2 percent in Japan and across Europe. Wall Street was expected to drop on the open and the international price of oil was down a sharp 4 percent.
China's increasingly drastic containment efforts began with the January 22 suspension of plane, train and bus links to Wuhan, a city of 11 million people in central China where the virus was first detected last month. That lockdown has expanded to 17 cities with more than 50 million people in the most far-reaching disease-control measures ever imposed.
The virus is thought to have spread to people from wild animals sold at a market in Wuhan. On Sunday, authorities banned trade in wild animals and urged people to stop eating meat from them.
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