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QUEBEC — Quebec public-health authorities announced Friday that all six Quebecers placed under hospital observation in Montreal and Quebec City have tested negative for the coronavirus.

The latest update by Horacio Arruda, Quebec’s director of public health, intended to reassure Quebecers about the government’s response to the outbreak.

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The respiratory virus started in late December in China in the city of Wuhan and has killed 41 so far and sickened close to a thousand.

The six people from Montreal and the Quebec City region had all recently returned from travels to China and were taken to a hospital for observation because they were showing symptoms of respiratory illness.

Symptoms of the coronavirus include fever, cough and difficulty breathing.

The virus has been detected in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and the United States, where one case was reported in a suburban Seattle man who became ill after returning from Wuhan.