More US airports will screen passengers for deadly virus from China, officials say

Two more U.S. airports will start checking passengers from Wuhan, China for a deadly new virus after screenings began last week at international airports in in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles, officials said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will begin screening passengers at Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, according to the Chicago Tribune. The news comes as the first US case has been confirmed in Washington.

Passengers were checked for temperatures and asked about symptoms at San Francisco International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport beginning last week, the Chicago Tribune reported.

More than 1,200 people have been screened since Jan. 17 and officials have begun redirecting passengers from Wuhan to the airports conducting screenings, according The Washington Post.

The US case was detected when a man returned from a trip to Wuhan to Seattle’s international airport, The Washington Post reported. He began feeling ill and the CDC confirmed the case as coronavirus.

The virus has infected hundreds of people and killed at least six in China, according to USA Today.

Health officials believe that the disease originated from a marketplace in Wuhan, according to NPR. Medical experts have confirmed that it can be spread between humans and that there is no vaccine.

Coronavirus has already spread to Thailand, Japan, and South Korea before the first US case was confirmed, and airports in those countries are also screening passengers for the virus.

This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 3:27 PM with the headline "More US airports will screen passengers for deadly virus from China, officials say."