March 7 coronavirus news

One of the attendees at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, tested positive for coronavirus, the American Conservative Union said in a press release Saturday.

President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials attended the conference, though the ACU says the attendee did not come into contact with Trump or Pence. The attendee also did not attend events in the main hall, the release said.

The ACU said the Trump Administration “is aware of the situation.”

The exposure occurred prior to the conference, the ACU added.

"A New Jersey hospital tested the person, and CDC confirmed the positive result. The individual is under the care of medical professionals in the state of New Jersey, and has been quarantined.” 

A new case of coronavirus has been identified in Los Angeles County, according to a press release from the county's Department of Public Health.

The person who tested positive recently attended the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington D.C., where they may have been exposed.

Earlier this week, AIPAC organizers said two conference attendees from New York tested positive for coronavirus.

There are now 14 coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County, the release said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provided "extra nurses, practitioners and doctors" to the Life Care Center, according to Tim Killian, the center's spokesperson in Kirkland, Washington.

"The amount of work and stress that these staff and employees and caregivers here are under is tremendous," Killian said. "They truly are heroes."  

A quarantined cruise ship in Egypt carrying 171 people now has 45 confirmed cases of coronavirus, according to state-run Al-Ahram news agency. 

The Luxor Nile traveled from Aswan to Luxor, where it is now docked.

Of the 45 people infected, 19 were from other countries besides Egypt, said Egypt's health minister Hala Zayed.

"They [all the recently-announced cases] are now on their way to be isolated in a hospital in Marsa Matrouh," Zayed said.

The new cases aboard the cruise bring the total number of cases in Egypt to 48, according to Al Ahram.

Brazil, Chile and Paraguay all announced new cases of the coronavirus on Saturday.

Paraguay

Paraguay's health ministry announced the country’s first case of the novel coronavirus. The health ministry wrote on its official Twitter account that the case is a young Paraguayan national who came from Ecuador and who is now in good health and in home quarantine.

Brazil

Four more cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Brazil, according to the country's health ministry, bringing the national total to 17.

The new cases include three people in Sao Paulo and one in Rio de Janeiro. The health ministry said all of the new cases were imported.

Chile

A 20-year-old who recently traveled in Europe, including in Spain, tested positive for coronavirus in Chile, according to the country’s health ministry.

The case is the seventh in Chile, the ministry said.

Seventy employees at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington, are showing symptoms of novel coronavirus, according to Tim Killian, spokesperson for the facility.

There were 180 staff members employed at Life Care Center as of February 19.

Employees showing symptoms have been asked not to return to work, Killian said at a briefing on Saturday. 

There were 120 residents at the facility on February 19, 54 residents have since been transferred to various hospitals, Killian said. 

All current residents are confined to their rooms, Killian added.

On Thursday, the facility received 45 coronavirus tests, the results of which are still pending, according to Killian.

A critically ill passenger and her husband were "medically disembarked" from the Grand Princess cruise ship by the US Coast Guard Saturday morning, according to a press release from Princess Cruises.

The passenger, a woman in her 70s, was taken to a shoreside hospital for treatment unrelated to coronavirus, according to a US Coast Guard press release. The woman and her husband were taken by helicopter.

Personal protective gear -- including gloves and face masks -- was delivered to the ship by the US Coast Guard on Friday night to supplement the current supply, the release said.

The ship remains 50 miles off the coast of San Francisco as cruise operators await the guidance of health officials, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and California Department of Public Health.

Portugal's national health directorate is reporting 21 total confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country.

Four patients came from Italy, one from Spain and the others were local transmissions.

Greece's health ministry announced 21 new confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country, bringing the total to 66. 

Forty-seven of the 66 cases were all part of a tour group to Israel and Egypt. One patient is in serious condition and all the rest are in stable condition.