
The person being tested for coronavirus in New York City is a visitor from China who stayed at a hotel in the city for two days before developing symptoms, as the global death toll has now reached 305.

The patient, who is under the age of 40, is currently 'stable and doing well', and is being treated at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. They were checked in to the hospital Friday night after calling 911 and will remain in quarantine until test results determine whether they have the disease.

City officials have revealed no other identifying features of the patient, but said the person was in New York on vacation and was staying alone in a hotel. They also have no friends or family in the city.

It will take at least 36 to 48 hours to determine whether the patient tests positive to coronavirus.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed in a press conference Saturday night at the hospital that the patient has been suffering from symptoms that include cough, fever and shortness of breath and has tested negative for other possible illnesses.

If the patient is found to have a positive diagnosis, the public would be told 'right away', he said.

New York City is testing its first suspected case of coronavirus in a man under the age of 40 who returned to the city from China two days ago. He is being treated at Bellevue Hospital in New York City (above)

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed in a press conference Saturday night at the hospital that the patient has been suffering from symptoms that include cough, fever and shortness of breath and has tested negative for other possible illnesses

The New York resident, who is being treated at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, checked in to the hospital Friday night after falling ill and will remain in quarantine until test results determine whether he has the disease, health officials said at the press conference. It will take at least 36 to 48 hours to determine whether the patient tests positive to coronavirus

He added: 'There is still a lot that we do not know. What we do know causes us a tremendous amount of concern. We will use all measures at our disposal to protect New Yorkers.'

The mayor advised New Yorkers to 'go about our lives' and 'continue doing what we do normally'.

'Just be smart. Do the basics, like wash your hands,' he said.

Anyone believed to be exhibiting symptoms of coronavirus should visit a hospital immediately, he added.

The city's health commissioner Dr Oxiris Barbot said Saturday morning when news broke of the city's first suspected case: 'This is exactly what we prepared for and we thank everyone for taking all the right steps.'

While this is the first suspected case to hit New York City, it is the 12th in New York state.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office confirmed Saturday that tests had come back negative for eight of the cases and the other three are awaiting results.

The possible New York City case comes after the eighth confirmed case in the US was diagnosed on Friday and the global death toll was revised from 259 to a much higher 304.

A Boston college student was the eighth person to be diagnosed in the US.

According to officials in the commonwealth, the man, a resident of The Hub, recently traveled to Wuhan.

In the US, eight people have been diagnosed with coronavirus, with a Boston college student being the latest person to be diagnosed on Friday, January 31

The mayor advised New Yorkers to 'go about our lives' and 'continue doing what we do normally'. 'Just be smart. Do the basics, like wash your hands,' he said

The unnamed man is being quarantined at Bellevue Hospital (above). De Blasio said the patient had not spent much time with family or friends after returning to the city and that the virus could only be passed person-to-person via 'substantial contact' with an infected individual

The student is enrolled at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, according to WCVB-TV.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Boston Public Health Commission were notified by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the positive test results late Friday evening.

After returning to Massachusetts, the man sought treatment, according to health officials.

He returned from Wuhan and landed at Logan International Airport in Boston on Tuesday. The student sought medical attention the next day.

Since his return, he has been placed in isolation and his symptoms are being closely monitored.

'Our priority is not only to protect and inform the residents of Boston but also to help this man continue to recover. We are pleased that he is doing well,' Boston Public Health Commission Executive Director Rita Nieves said.

Massachusetts health officials said on Saturday that the first case of coronavirus in the state has been confirmed. The infected person is a student at the University of Massachusetts in Boston (above). He is a male in his twenties who recently traveled to Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the global coronavirus outbreak

'Right now, we are not asking Boston residents to do anything differently. The risk to the general public remains low.

'And we continue to be confident we are in a good position to respond to this developing situation.'

Elsewhere in the US, three confirmed cases have been reported in California and one each in Washington State and Arizona.

There have been two cases reported in Illinois - the second case being the first time that the disease has been transmitted from person to person in the US.

Concerns about the virus spurred the Trump administration to declare a public health emergency Friday and bar entry to the US for foreign nationals who have recently visited China.

TSA has put in place new security measures on Sunday, where all airlines operating in the US are now required to ask all passengers booked on international flights if they've traveled to mainland China in the last 14 days.

Although Chinese nationals or any foreign national who has traveled to mainland China will not be granted entry, this new TSA order also relates to US citizens.

US citizens who have traveled to the mainland need to re-book their flights through one of the seven gateway airports, including, John F Kennedy International Airport in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta or Honolulu.

In addition, US citizens who have traveled within the past two weeks to Hubei will be subject to a mandatory quarantine of 14 days, believed to be the incubation period of the virus, officials said.

Americans who visited other parts of mainland China will undergo special health screening upon their return, followed by up to 14 days of 'monitored self-quarantine,' under the temporary restrictions.

The first quarantines of US citizens potentially exposed to coronavirus in China began hours before the White House announcement on Friday.

Nearly 200 Americans evacuated earlier this week from Wuhan and voluntarily confined to a California military air base for 72 hours of health screenings were placed under a mandatory 14-day quarantine on Friday.

By Saturday afternoon, none of those quarantined showed any symptoms of having the virus, said Jose Arballo, a spokesman for the public health department in Riverside County, where the air base is located. He said test results were still pending.

The order to keep the Americans on the base marked the CDC's first mandatory quarantine for decades.

'Since this hasn't been done in 51 years there's quite the scramble to work through all the procedures,' a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official said, adding that the last mandatory quarantine was ordered to fight smallpox.

The official, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, said DHS personnel would take over running medical screenings at airports this weekend to free up their CDC counterparts for other tasks.

State and local authorities will likely play a role with mandatory quarantines, the official said, which could mean 'a lot of variance across the country for how it gets implemented.'

A man wears a mask in Chicago's Chinatown following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus on Thursday

A DHS spokeswoman denied the department was scrambling and said it has been working on these plans since last summer, when it began contracting medical professionals and readying quarantine and health screening plans in case it had to ramp up for the Ebola outbreak.

'We were able to quickly tailor those plans and contracts to the coronavirus,' said the spokeswoman, Heather Swift.

Swift said state and local officials are always involved in public health and emergency response, but that there is a uniform standard. 'All passengers who receive a positive symptoms screening will be placed in quarantine. Those who show no symptoms will be sent home on self-quarantine,' she said.

The Pentagon said on Saturday that it had approved a request from the Department of Health and Human Services for assistance for housing support for 1,000 people who may need to be quarantined after arriving from abroad due to the coronavirus.

In a statement, the Pentagon said that HHS had asked the Pentagon to provide several facilities capable of 'housing at least 250 people in individual rooms' through February 29.

It said that Defense Department personnel would only provide housing support, while HHS would be responsible for all care and transportation.

The statement added that four military installations had been selected in case they were required, including two in California, one in Colorado, and one in Texas.

The viral outbreak that began in China has so far infected more than 14,550 people globally.

In figures as of Sunday morning in Beijing, 14,380 cases have been confirmed in mainland China - far higher than the 11,791 previously thought.

In addition, Hong Kong has 14 cases and Macao has seven.

Most of the 304 deaths have been in central Hubei province of China, where illnesses from the new type of coronavirus were first detected in December.

Experts believe that the worst is yet to come.

According to a study which appeared in The Lancet on Saturday, the number of infected people in Wuhan is likely to reach as many as 75,815 people.

The number is the result of a study conducted by scientists from the University of Hong Kong.

It is based on the assumption that each infected person could have passed the virus on to 2.68 other people.

On Wednesday, an evacuation flight with 195 Americans onboard landed at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, California (pictured). Those passengers are all now under federal quarantine. Anyone returning to the US after visiting the Hubei province where Wuhan is located within the prior two weeks will also face a mandatory quarantine, starting Sunday

During a Friday briefing, the White House's newly assembled task force for the ongoing coronavirus outbreak declared it a public health emergency in the US. HHS Secretary Alex Azar (center) announced that most foreign nationals will be barred from entry and citizens returning from China will face various grades of quarantines

The viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 14,550 people globally. On the mainland, 14,380 cases have been confirmed. Most of the 304 deaths have been in central Hubei province

China faced mounting isolation from international travel curbs and flight suspensions on Saturday, with Russia to start pulling out its citizens next week.

With Britain, Russia and Sweden among the countries confirming their first infections, the virus has now spread to more than two dozen nations, sending governments scurrying to limit their exposure.

China toughened its own quarantine measures at the center of the outbreak in Hubei province, a day after the US temporarily barred entry to foreigners who had been in China within the past two weeks.

Officials in hazmat suits met passengers as they stepped off the plane and onto awaiting buses (left and right). All 195 passengers are now under a federally mandated 14-day quarantine

On Thursday, the World Health Organization announced in a press conference (pictured) that it was declaring the deadly coronavirus outbreak to be a global health emergency

The epidemic has led to mass evacuations of foreign citizens as world airlines halt flights, and risks exacerbating a slowdown in growth in the world's second-largest economy.

The Russian military was to start evacuating Russian citizens from China on Monday and Tuesday, Interfax and TASS news agencies reported.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying the evacuations would be from regions that had been most affected by the outbreak.

Peskov first said that evacuation will start on Saturday but later corrected himself.

Russia has already reported its first two cases of coronavirus and restricted direct flights to China.

Inside China, Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, was under a virtual quarantine, with roads sealed off and public transport shut down.

Elsewhere, authorities placed growing restrictions on travel and business.

In Beijing, counters were set up at the entrances of housing estates, where volunteers wearing red arm bands and masks noted down details of residents coming back from their hometowns after the Lunar New Year holiday.

'As long as I am properly protected and don't go to crowded places, I don't feel scared at all about my hometown or Beijing,' said a 58-year-old migrant worker surnamed Sun.

Others were more worried.

'There will be a huge number of people returning to the city. I think it will put Beijing at risk of more infections,' said Zhang Chunlei, 45, another returning migrant worker.

The warning, officially known as a 'public health emergency of international concern', is the highest warning the WHO can give

Pictured: Passengers arrive at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on January 24

Pictured: Medical staff in protective suits treat a coronavirus patient at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan, January 28

Pictured: Medical staff in protective suits treat a coronavirus patient at Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan, January 27

In Hubei, the provincial government extended the holiday break to February 13 in a bid to contain the outbreak, the Hubei Daily reported.

The World Health Organization, which this week declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, has said global trade and travel restrictions are not needed.

But Singapore and the United States announced measures on Friday to ban foreign nationals who have recently been in China from entering their territories.

Australia followed suit, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying the country would deny entry to all foreign nationals traveling from mainland China from Saturday.

'We're in fact operating with an abundance of caution in these circumstances so Australians can go about their daily lives with confidence,' Morrison told reporters in Sydney.

Qantas Airways Ltd and Air New Zealand said travel bans forced them to suspend their direct flights to China from February 9.

All three major US airlines said on Friday they would cancel flights to mainland China.

American Airlines announced that it would cease flights to Hong Kong as well as the Chinese mainland - at least through Monday.

The company said in a statement that it 'will make decisions about Hong Kong flights each day based on our operational situation.'

The commander of US forces in the Pacific banned travel to China for all service members and civilian personnel under his authority and ordered those now in China to leave immediately, officials said.

There have been two cases reported in Illinois - the second case being the first time that the disease has been transmitted from person to person in the US. The couple, who have not been identified, are now both being isolated at St Alexius Hospita (pictured) in Hoffman Estates, a suburb of Chicago

Several countries have advised against non-essential travel to the China. Pictured: Funeral workers disinfect themselves after handling a coronavirus victim in Wuhan on Thursday

Many nations have put on charter flights to repatriate citizens from China and then place them in isolation for around two weeks, the incubation period of the virus.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn called for calm as more than 100 Germans and family members landed in Frankfurt, none showing any symptoms of the virus.

He warned against hysteria and hostility from the public.

Britain said it was withdrawing some staff from its embassy and consulates in China.

Many of the private clinics catering to foreigners in China have started to turn away people with fevers.

'I don't want to go to the local hospital with a sore throat only to catch something else,' said Czech national Veronika Krubner in Tianjin.

Infections have jumped in two cities flanking Wuhan, raising concerns that new hot spots are emerging despite strict travel restrictions.

In one of them, Huanggang, authorities asked households to designate one individual who can leave the home, a local newspaper said.

Children wear an improvised face protection made from water bottles in order to protect against the coronavirus at the airport arrival terminal in Guangzhou

This photo taken on Thursday shows an official in a protective suit checking on an elderly man wearing a face mask who collapsed and died on a street near a hospital in Wuhan

An expressman wears a protective mask and suit as he delivers packages on a bicycle in Wuhan

This photo taken on Thursday shows staff members of a funeral parlor wearing protective suits disinfecting a colleague after they transferred a body at a hospital in Wuhan

Health Officials in hazmat suits wait at the gate to check body temperatures of passengers arriving from the city of Wuhan on January 22 at the airport in Beijing

The mayor of the city of about 7.5 million people said there could be a significant rise in cases this weekend.

The northern city of Tianjin, home to some 15 million, suspended all schools and businesses until further notice.

Efforts to contain the virus risk slowing growth in China. Growth had already fallen in the fourth quarter to a 30-year low of 6 per cent.

The virus impact prompted Capital Economics to almost halve its estimate for first-quarter growth to 3 per cent from 5.7 per cent.

China's central bank said the impact was temporary and economic fundamentals remained sound, but that it would increase monetary and credit support, including lowering lending costs for affected companies.

Apple Inc said on Saturday it would close all of its official stores and corporate offices in China until February 9, the latest of dozens of major companies, including Sweden's IKEA and Walmart Inc, restricting travel and operations due to the outbreak.

The EU Commission said it had sent 12 tons of protective equipment to China and will 'continue providing support.'