RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A child among 195 people quarantined at a Southern California air base last week after evacuation from the virus-stricken area of China developed a fever and has been hospitalized for testing and observation.
Riverside County says in a statement that the child was taken by ambulance Monday evening from March Air Reserve Base to Riverside University Health System-Medical Center out of an abundance of caution.
The child was accompanied by a parent. Riverside County also says a traveler who arrived Monday at Los Angeles International Airport on a flight from China was placed under federal quarantine and taken to March Air Reserve Base.
Deaths from a new virus rose to 490 in mainland China while new cases on a Japanese cruise ship, in Hong Kong and in Thailand showed the increasing spread of the outbreak and renewed attention toward containing it. Ten people from the cruise ship tested positive and were taken to hospitals, while all 3,700 crew and passengers on the ship will be quarantined on board for up to 14 days.
In Hong Kong, hospitals workers are striking to demand the border with mainland China be shut completely to ward off the virus, but four new cases without known travel to the mainland indicate the illness is spreading locally in the territory.
American Airlines says it has suspended flights to Hong Kong, and United will halt flights there starting Saturday. The airlines' actions come as the coronavirus outbreak undercuts demand for travel to mainland China and Hong Kong. American said Tuesday it will suspend flights from Los Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth to Hong Kong, and United will halt flights from San Francisco. Both suspensions run through Feb. 20.
The airlines had already halted flights to mainland China. Even before the virus outbreak that started in Wuhan, China, interest in flying to Hong Kong was weakened by anti-government protests in the city.
