Coronavirus update: CDC testing kits faulty; Second positive case in quarantined US base
Key Takeaways
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The number of confirmed US cases of the COVID-19 increased to 14, according to the WHO. Positive cases have been identified in Arizona, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington state, and Wisconsin. The number of confirmed cases worldwide is now 47,054, with 1,369 deaths.
A second case has been confirmed in the group of US evacuees from China who are quarantined at a San Diego airbase. The first and second positive cases housed at the base arrived on different planes and were housed at different facilities; no epidemiologic links were found between them. “At this time there is no indication of person-to-person spread of this virus at the quarantine facility,” said Christopher R. Braden, MD, leader of the on-site CDC team.
Officials in Japan announced on Thursday that a woman in her 80s has died from COVID-19. She is the first recorded death in Japan from the disease, and the second outside of China.
Passengers aboard the Diamond Princess, currently under quarantine in Yokohama, Japan, have turned to private social media groups to raise each other’s spirits and exchange information. While more than 2,600 passengers are on board, they are mostly confined to their cabins with little in-person interaction. The 14-day quarantine is set to end on February 19.
Some of the COVID-19 testing kits sent to state laboratories from the CDC are flawed and return “inconclusive” results. The problems reportedly stem from one of the test’s ingredients. The CDC is currently making a new supply of the ingredient and will send the new batch to states as soon as possible. Officials did not say how many of the kits were affected.
The number of new confirmed cases in Hubei Province, China, soared by 14,840 to a total of 48,206 in the province, according to government officials. The WHO is currently seeking “further clarity” from China about the changes; the new numbers do not currently match the numbers listed on the WHO virus tracker. The dramatic uptick is being attributed to new diagnostic criteria, and pertains to patients who are being confirmed retroactively, according to Michael Ryan, MD, executive director of the WHO. “We are not, as we understand it, not dealing with a spike in 14,000 cases in one day,” he said during a press briefing.
New cases are now being diagnosed in clinical settings aided with CT scans, rather than by nucleic acid testing alone. There is currently a shortage of those tests, which were reportedly only 30% to 40% accurate.
Supply of generic drugs could be impacted by COVID-19. Many US manufacturers of these drugs source ingredients from China, and supply could be in jeopardy should manufacturing slowdowns continue.