— The state Department of Health and Human Services is investigating a possible case of the new coronavirus in North Carolina.

An unidentified person recently traveled to China and passed through Wuhan City, where the outbreak originated, but had not visited the seafood and animal market that was linked to many early cases, authorities said. The person arrived at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Thursday and is now in isolation at Duke University Hospital.

"Although it is unlikely that this person was infected with the 2019 novel coronavirus, we are conducting testing out of an abundance of caution," State Epidemiologist Dr. Zack Moore said. "If you haven’t traveled to Wuhan in the past two weeks, your risk of infection with this virus is very low."

The patient, who has mild respiratory symptoms, didn't have close contact with anyone after disembarking at RDU and wore a mask the entire time while at the airport, authorities said. People who were at RDU or the hospital at the same time as this individual was present are not considered at risk for infection, authorities said.

"Out of an abundance of caution, RDU followed the guidance of public health experts and completed appropriate disinfection protocols," RDU spokeswoman Stephanie Hawco said in a statement. "Airport operations were not disrupted, and RDU remains under normal operations."

Hawco said the passenger flew to North Carolina from Kennedy International Airport in New York.

Moore said the person wasn't checked for the virus at any of the U.S. airports screening passengers flying in from China, having visited Wuhan earlier in his or her travels and then returning to the U.S. from another location. But the person contacted a local health care provider while traveling after developing respiratory symptoms, which alerted North Carolina public health officials to the case, Moore said.

The state Division of Public Health is arranging for testing for the novel coronavirus at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If infection with the virus is confirmed, public health officials will work with the CDC and local partners to reach out to people who came in close contact with the person on the airline flights.

To date, there are only two confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in the United States. But the CDC is watching 63 possible cases in 22 states.

The same number of people, 41, have died from the flu in North Carolina in recent weeks as deaths worldwide attributed to the coronavirus.

"It's appropriate to be concerned and to be paying attention, but the risk [posed by coronavirus] to people here in North Carolina, at this point in time, is very low," Moore said.