Coronavirus arrives in the U.S.

A Washington state resident in his 30s has the first U.S. case of a new coronavirus that originated in China. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed he arrived Jan. 15 from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak. Nine people have died and about 450 people have fallen ill with the respiratory virus since last month. The U.S. patient is under isolation in Washington and is “very healthy,” according to the CDC.

What is being done to stop the virus? The World Health Organization will hold an emergency committee meeting Wednesday to determine if the outbreak amounts to a global health crisis. Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and South Korea have also recorded cases. Health officials have not pinned down the exact source of the disease, but it can spread between humans and is transmitted through the respiratory tract.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Mindy Belz’s 2003 report on how China’s loose standards on animal delicacies led to the deadly 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), another coronavirus.