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Washington reports second coronavirus death in US

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ANI US

The US state of Washington on Sunday confirmed second death case by coronavirus infection.

Public health officials in King County, Washington, said a man in his 70s with underlying health conditions died on Saturday at Evergreen Health Hospital in Kirkland, CNN reported.

It is the same facility where officials witnessed the nation's first coronavirus death on Saturday.

The first US death in Washington state was a man in his 50s with underlying health conditions, officials said. The patient had no recent travel history or contact with people known to be infected, officials said.

Officials also announced three other confirmed coronavirus cases in the county, all at Evergreen Health. They include a woman in her 80s, a woman in her 90s and a man in his 70s. All were in critical condition with underlying health issues. All four new cases were residents of a nursing facility in Kirkland where two other people -- a resident and a worker -- had previously tested positive.

 

As of Sunday night, 87 cases of coronavirus had been identified in the United States, according to The New York Times.

The first of those cases was announced on January 21. Twenty-two cases were announced on Saturday and Sunday, including the country's first two deaths, both in Washington State.

Vice President Mike Pence told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday that more deaths were "possible" in the US, but underlied that the risk for the average American "remains low".

"We could have more sad news. But the American people should know the risk for the average American remains low," Pence said.

The cases identified over the weekend were in Washington, California, Illinois, Rhode Island, New York, Florida and Oregon, and included a mix of people who had traveled to high-risk countries and those who were believed to have contracted the disease domestically.

The global death toll has surpassed 3,000 on four continents.

The vice president said on Saturday that the administration is expanding existing travel restrictions on Iran to include foreign nationals who had visited Iran in the last 14 days.

The US will also increase travel advisories for Italy and South Korea to Level 4 -- the highest level -- advising Americans not to travel to specific regions in those countries.

On Sunday, President Trump announced via Twitter new screening procedures for people arriving in the US if they are traveling from "high-risk countries".

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First Published: Mar 02 2020 | 9:38 AM IST

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