PORTLAND, Maine — One day after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Thursday broadened its recommendations to physicians for testing patients for the coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) has raised its global risk of spread and risk of impact from "high" to "very high."
Dr. Mike Ryan, head of the WHO's emergency program, said officials are discussing whether or not the 2020 Olympics, scheduled to be held in July in Japan, would take place.
The potential public health threat posed by the virus is high globally and in the United States, the CDC said.
But the Maine Center for Disease Control said there are still no confirmed cases in Maine, and the risk to the public is low.
“The risk to the public remains low, but we must prepare for the potential spread of coronavirus,” DR. Nirav D. Shah, Director of the Maine CDC, said in a release Thursday. “As we focus on the health of the public, we urge Maine people to take care of their personal health. Eat well, get plenty of sleep, and practice good hygiene. Healthy habits save lives.”
The WHO director-general said Friday that the virus could still be contained.
"What we see at the moment are linked epidemics of COVID-19 in several countries, but most cases can still be traced to known contacts or clusters of cases," Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a Friday press briefing. "We do not see evidence as yet that the virus is spreading freely in communities.
"As long as that’s the case, we still have a chance of containing this virus, if robust action is taken to detect cases early, isolate and care for patients and trace contacts," he continued.
New cases of the virus were reported in Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Nigeria, all in patients with travel history to Italy.
Mainland China has reported 329 new cases in the past 24 hours, for a total of nearly 79,000 cases including nearly 2,800 deaths.
Outside China, 3,251 cases have been reported in 49 countries, including 67 deaths.
On Thursday, the CDC advised healthcare workers to test for coronavirus any patient with a fever and respiratory illness who has traveled or been in close contact with someone who has traveled to not only China but Iran, Italy, Japan, or South Korea, within the past 14 days.
The new guidance to healthcare workers comes after a patient in California was confirmed to have the virus but had not traveled anywhere known to have the virus and had not been exposed to anyone known to be infected, CNN reports.
Prior to Thursday, the CDC advised U.S. physicians to test anyone with a fever and respiratory illness who had traveled to China or been in close contact with anyone who had traveled there.
Also on Thursday, the CDC and Federal Drug Administration developed a protocol that will allow at least 40 public health laboratories to begin testing. Currently, testing for the virus is only done at the CDC in Atlanta.
On Friday, Reuters reported that an increasing number of patients in China and Japan who had coronavirus but had then been discharged from the hospital were again testing positive for the virus.
Maine CDC sent this update to NEWS CENTER Maine on Friday afternoon:
U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. CDC) updated the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) criteria for Patients Under Investigation (PUI) on Thursday, February 27, 2020. A person who meets the PUI criteria must wear a surgical mask as soon as they are identified and be evaluated in a private room with the door closed, ideally an airborne infection isolation room if available. Health care personnel entering the room should use standard precautions, contact precautions, airborne precautions, and use eye protection (e.g., goggles or a face shield). If providers suspect a patient meets the PUI criteria, they should immediately notify their healthcare facility’s infection control personnel and Maine CDC at 1-800-821-5821.
Currently, testing for COVID-19 is not yet available in Maine. In the case of a PUI, specimens must be sent to HETL who will facilitate sending them to U.S. CDC for COVID-19 testing. There are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Maine at this time; therefore, the risk of community spread remains low.