Fourth origin unknown virus case in US

Heightens outbreak fears but Trump downplays risk, accuses Dems and press of stirring up hysteria

Los Angeles, Feb. 29: US health officials reported a fourth case of novel Covid19 of unknown origin, indicating the disease was spreading in the country. The latest case is a boy under 18 in Washington State who tested “presumptive positive,” local authorities said without releasing further details about the patient. He is currently in home isolation in Snohomish County. The high school he attends will be shut until March 3 while it is deep cleaned, the Washington State Department of Health said.

In neighbouring Oregon, authorities said Friday that an adult who had had contact with people at an elementary school had been hospitalised and was also considered “presumptive positive”.

The school will be closed until March 4 as it undergoes a deep clean, officials said, adding they would talk to employees and parents. Earlier Friday, Californian health authorities said an older woman was confirmed infected with unknown origin — the second such case in the northern part of the state.

“This new case indicates that there is evidence of community transmission but the extent is still not clear,” said Sara Cody, director of public health for Santa Clara County. “What we know now is that is is here, present at some level, but we still don’t know to what degree,” she added.

Dems’ ‘hoax’: Prez

The latest infections have heightened fears of an outbreak across the country. President Donald Trump, however, downplayed the risk in the US at a campaign rally in South Carolina, accusing Democrats and the press of stirring up hysteria.

“We are preparing for the worst,” he said. “My administration has taken the most aggressive action in modern history to prevent the spread of this illness in the United States.”

He called the Covid-19 the Democrats’ “new hoax.” “The Democrats are politicising the Covid19. They’re politicising it,” he said. “They don’t have any clue. They can’t even count their votes in Iowa.”

— AFP Military vehicles spray disinfectant as part of preventive measures against the spread of the Covid-19, on a road near Dongdaegu railway station in Daegu, South Korea on Saturday.