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SAN JOSE – Five healthcare workers at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose have been instructed to stay home until Feb. 11 after being exposed to the deadly novel coronavirus, officials said.
The workers were exposed to the virus when a patient sought care at the hospital, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
“This is being done to protect the public’s health and limit any potential spread of the virus,” the statement said.
The department confirmed its first case of novel coronavirus on Jan. 31. A second case was confirmed Feb. 2. Both patients had traveled to the U.S. from mainland China.
As of Tuesday morning, the virus had sickened 20,630 people worldwide, with 3,241 of those confirmed cases reported in the past 24 hours, according to the World Health Organization.
The vast majority of those cases – 20,471 – are in China, where 2,788 are severely ill and 425 have died.
Outside of China, there are 159 confirmed cases in 23 countries including the United States, and one death of a man in the Philippines.
The number of people confirmed to have the virus in the United States held at 11 Tuesday, with six of them in California. The highest concentration is in the Bay Area, with two reported in Santa Clara and two others, a husband and wife, in San Benito County.
The San Benito County couple has been transferred to facilities at University of California San Francisco.
Check back for updates.
