Rhode Island treating 'presumptive' coronavirus patient following 'unknown origin' case in Chicago

Doctors urging two-week quarantine for people in contact with patient who travelled to Italy

Health officials in Rhode Island have confirmed the state's first "presumptive" coronavirus patient following reports of two more patients who have contracted the virus in Chicago, bringing the total number of cases in Illinois to three.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar confirmed the overnight Chicago cases to Fox News on Sunday.

The Rhode Island Department of Health says it's "coordinating closely with the hospital where this person is currently being treated and all infection control protocols are being followed". The patient had recently returned to the US from travelling to Italy and has not returned to work since arriving back in the country.

Dr Nicole Alexander-Scott says the state is not seeing widespread community transmission and is advising residents that the general level of infection is still low.

Officials have begun outreach to people who were in direct contact with the patient and are urging two weeks of self-quarantine.

Reported infections in the US have now reached more than 70, including the death of one patient in Washington state, as officials monitor a possible global pandemic following the outbreak of the flu-like respiratory virus COVID-19.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that 15 people have tested positive for the virus after being tested in the United States, while another 44 Americans who were on the Diamond Princess cruise ship and were repatriated have also tested positive, as have three Americans who returned from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.

The president is expected to visit CDC headquarters in Atlanta this week, though its unclear whether Mike Pence, the appointed "tsar" handling the administration's response to the outbreak, will be joining him.

His visit follows a feud with Dr Nancy Messonnier, the director of the CDC's National Center for Immunisation and Respiratory Diseases, who has contradicted the president's assurances and said that "it's not so much of a question of 'if' this will happen anymore but rather more of a question of exactly 'when' this will happen."