Coronavirus case in US may be due to ‘community spread’ of infection
- American patient with no apparent sign of exposure tests positive for the virus
- US health officials say community spread of Covid-19 would weaken travel restrictions and other containment measures
Community transmission – in which multiple cases are detected without any clear source of infection – could significantly weaken the effectiveness of containment measures such as travel restrictions.
“At this time, the patient’s exposure is unknown. It’s possible this could be an instance of community spread of Covid-19, which would be the first time this has happened in the United States,” the CDC statement said.
“It’s also possible, however, that the patient may have been exposed to a returned traveller who was infected,” it said.
The patient tested positive for the illness after being screened by “astute clinicians” in the public health system in California, the CDC said.
Apart from China – where the bulk of the 81,000 plus infections have occurred – countries such as Italy, South Korea, Iran and Singapore are currently experiencing community transmission of the virus to different degrees.