COLUMBIA — South Carolina public health officials have so far monitored 49 people for the novel coronavirus, and five have tested negative for the illness that is spreading around the globe.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is monitoring 13 people for the condition also known as COVID-19, according to information released Wednesday to The Post and Courier.

Brian Symmes, a spokesman for Gov. Henry McMaster, said administration officials are in regular contact with state and federal public health officials but are echoing calls for people to remain calm.

The coronavirus, which has sickened more than 100 people and killed nine in the United States, is circling South Carolina, with confirmed cases in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.

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On Thursday, the S.C. Senate Medical Affairs Committee will huddle with DHEC officials for a briefing on the illness. DHEC Director Rick Toomey called the spread of coronavirus “a rapidly evolving situation” and assured the public that his agency takes “every new infectious disease seriously.”

Symptoms related to the virus typically appear two to 14 days after exposure, and include fever, shortness of breath and a cough.

In some cases, the coronavirus can escalate in severity and may result in pneumonia or death.

New developments suggest the incubation period for the disease may be longer than 14 days — one reason why Catherine Templeton, who ran DHEC from 2012-15 and managed the state's Ebola response in 2014, sounded an alarm when a contingent of Chinese exchange students visited Academic Magnet in North Charleston in late January, where her children attend high school.