(CNN) – A resident of Solano County, California, infected with the new coronavirus could be the first case in the United States of “community spread,” a situation in which the patient had no “relevant travel history or exposure to another known patient,” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. UU. (CDC).
“The person’s exposure is unknown,” the CDC said in a press release.
“It is possible that this is a community propagation instance of Covid-19, which would be the first time it has happened in the United States,” the agency said, using the name that the World Health Organization gave this coronavirus.
The spread of the community means that the virus begins to move through a community and “the source of the infection is unknown,” the agency said.
“However, it is also possible that the patient has been exposed to a traveler who returned and was infected,” the CDC added.
The agency revealed that the case was detected through the California public health system and that the patient is receiving treatment in Sacramento.
The United States has 60 confirmed cases of coronavirus, health officials said, a figure that is expected to grow.
CNN’s Ben Tinker contributed to this report.
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