Last Tuesday, health officials confirmed the first case of 2019-nCoV in the country. The man had traveled to Wuhan, China in which the virus first appeared, and back to Seattle.

Officials shared that the man was in his 30s, and had at least 16 close contacts with different individuals before he was quarantined. Chinese officials also scrambled to contain a new strain of the virus that had 17 people and infected 500 more. Chinese officials said that they have blocked all points of entry in the City of Wuhan.

To ensure that the virus would not spread even further, CDC had deployed 100 workers to screen airline passengers around major ports of entry in the U.S. which includes, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Especially since an influx of approximately 5,000 passengers from Wuhan is said to be arriving in the said airports for the next coming weeks.

The screening will also extend to other airports including Atlanta International Airport and O’Hare International Airport. The CDC had also prepared a test to diagnose the virus, although it can only be administered at the CDC.

Corona Virus is a large group of viruses which includes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and the newest strain known as “2019 novel coronavirus” or “2019-nCoV”. These can cause illnesses from minor colds to serious health implications. Oftentimes, these manifest with pneumonia-like symptoms.

Normally, the virus is transmitted from humans to animals. For example, SARS was transmitted from an animal known as a civet. However, there are also cases where the transmission happens between human to human contact. The outbreak began in Wuhan City, which has a massive population of 11 million. Reports show that many patients were linked to a large seafood and animal market known as Hua Nan Seafood Wholesale Market. Before it was closed, the market was selling dead and alive exotic animals for food, which includes wolves, bats, and civet cats, which experts believed is where the virus came from.

Exotic animals were considered as a delicacy in China and even represents the status quo, as rich families flocked to order their exotic meals including bat soups. The problem is that health officials say that a growing number of patients have been infected without exposure to the market. This leads to experts saying that the virus could possibly be transmitted from human to human contact.

Even other Asian countries were also on high-alert to stop the spread of the deadly virus, including countries such as Australia, Thailand and even Nepal.

Last Monday, the World Health Organization announced that they will conduct an Emergency Committee meeting this week in Switzerland to decide if the outbreak should be considered as a public health emergency. World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement: “The decision about whether or not to declare a public health emergency of international concern is one I take extremely seriously and one I am only prepared to make with appropriate consideration of the available evidence.”