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A staff member checks body temperature of a passengers at an exit of a highway in Wuhan, in China's central Hubei province on January 21, 2020. Image Credit: AFP

A traveller from China has been diagnosed in Seattle with the Wuhan coronavirus, a spokesman from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday.

The news was first reported by CNN.

More details will be released later on Tuesday in a news conference, CDC spokesman Benjamin Haynes said.

The newly identified coronarvirus originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, and has spread to Beijing and Shanghai.

More than 300 people have been infected so far and six have died, according to Chinese health officials.

Last week, the CDC began screening travelers from China in three US airports. Besides the United States, cases outside of China have been reported in South Korea, Thailand and Japan.

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