US coronavirus cases nearly DOUBLE to 26 after 11 of 13 Americans evacuated from disease-hit cruise test positive

Kassidy Vavra, News Reporter

Published: 6:12, 21 Feb 2020
Updated: 6:37, 21 Feb 2020

CORONAVIRUS cases in the U.S. have nearly doubled to 26 after 11 of 13 Americans evacuated from the disease-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship tested positive for the virus.

The cases were confirmed at a specialist facility in Omaha, Nebraska, on Thursday - days after patients arrived on two separate flights from Japan on Monday.

11 out of 13 patients being monitored for coronavirus were confirmed to have the illness, nearly doubling the number of cases in the U.S.Credit: Getty Images - Getty

for two weeks before being transported to a hospital for monitoring and eventually flown back to the United States.

The 13 people were deemed to be the highest risk of all the passengers evacuated, and were flown to Omaha for monitoring when they arrived in the U.S.

Upon their arrival at the hospital on Feb. 17, the University of Medical Center (UNMC) said some patients had tested positive for the virus, although they did not specify how many.

Late Thursday, the CDC confirmed a majority - 11 out of 13 of the patients being monitored - had tested positive for the virus.

of the disease, however several others are exhibiting minor symptoms.”

It brings the total number of coronavirus cases in the United States to 26, according to Bert Kelly, a Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spokesman quoted in a report.

woman, Jeri Seratti-Goldman, said earlier this week her husband Carl became ill on the flight back to the U.S., so the couple were transported to Eppley Airfield and moved to UNMC for monitoring.

She said her husband was moved from the.

As the medical center announced 11 of the previous cruise ship passengers tested positive for the virus in the U.S., hundreds more passengers were set to disembark the quarantined ship Friday.

, a man and woman both in their 80s, were confirmed dead Thursday.

As passengers continue to filter off the cruise ship, concerns have sparked if Japan is taking the necessary precautions to protect against the virus.

Citizens returning to Hong Kong, Australia and the U.S. will all have to undergo mandatory 14-day quarantines as the countries take precaution against potential spread of the virus.

Japan, however, has said that if passengers test negative and had not exhibited symptoms of the virus during the 14-day quarantine on board the ship, they would not need to undergo an additional isolation period.

The CDC put Japan on “Watch Level 1” amid concerns over the virus — meaning it did not recommend cancelling or postponing trips.

However, the health agency advised travelers to take precautions like rigorous hand-washing and avoiding contact with people that are sick.

Crew members on board have continued to test positive for the virus, as hundreds of passengers are allowed to disembark.

The announcement on the near-double of coronavirus cases now seen on U.S. soil comes the same day that 57 people who had been quarantined at a Nebraska Camp after they were evacuated out of Wuhan were released.

Evacuated passengers will undergo another 14-day quarantine now that they have arrived in the U.S.Credit: AP:Associated Press

Concerns have sparked over whether Japan is taking enough precaution to halt the spread of the virus as its own citizens disembark the shipCredit: Alamy Live News

A total of 75, 748 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed globally, according to the latest numbers from the .

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