LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) – At least 52 new cases of the fast-spreading new coronavirus were reported across the United States on Thursday, including the first in Tennessee, Texas and the city of San Francisco, as the number of people with the illness in Washington state nearly doubled to 70.
Twenty new cases of the virus were confirmed in King County, Washington, local health officials said on Thursday, bringing the total in the county to 51 with 10 deaths.
“This is a critical moment in the growing outbreak of COVID-19 in King County,” the county said in a written statement, referring to the respiratory disease caused by the virus.
“All King County residents should follow public health recommendations. Together, we may potentially impact the spread of the disease in our community,” it said.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the number of cases in his state had doubled to 22 after the federal government approved its use of additional laboratories, boosting capacity for testing. He said more testing would inevitably identify more cases. “Those numbers are going to keep going up,” Cuomo told a news conference.
Texas confirmed its first three coronavirus cases and Tennessee reported one, bringing the number of affected states to 15.
The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed an $8.3 billion bill to combat the outbreak 96-1, a day after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved it. The bill will now go to President Donald Trump for his signature.
More than $3 billion of the approved funds would be devoted to research and development of coronavirus vaccines, test kits and treatments. There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for the illness that began in China and has infected more than 95,000 people in some 80 countries and territories.
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