Los Angeles Times

The death toll from coronavirus in the United States rose to six as Washington state officials announced four new deaths.

The new figure comes as health officials worked to contain the virus and officials urged people to remain calm and stressed there is still time to limit the spread in the United States.

The new deaths — all elderly individuals who died at the EvergreenHealth hospital — were from a nursing home in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland.

Health officials said Monday there is still time to contain the coronavirus as the death toll in America rose in Washington and the virus spread in California.

“I think we have a common enemy,” said World Health Organization Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “We have to stand together in unison to fight it, and these early signs are very encouraging.”

WHO officials declined to declare the COVID-19 disease a pandemic, saying 90% of the cases have been in China.

Of the 3,000 deaths from the virus, 2,803 have been in China’s Hubei province, where the outbreak began. “Our message to all countries is this is not a one-way street — we can push this back,” Tedros said.

“Our actions now will determine the course of this outbreak.” he added. “Containment is possible in all countries that are affected, and that should be No. 1.”

In the United States, there have been approximately 80 cases of the virus.

Of the 62 countries affected by COVID-19, 55 have fewer than 100 cases. Only four countries have more than 1,000 cases, Tedros said.

WHO officials said it is rare to see a respiratory pathogen such as this virus that can spread widely in the community but can also be contained. The flu cannot be as easily contained, officials said.

“That offers us a glimmer, a chink of life that this virus can be suppressed and contained,” Mike Ryan, who runs the agency’s emergencies program, said in a briefing Monday.

Officials in California’s Santa Clara and San Mateo counties reported new cases of coronavirus Monday morning. In Santa Clara County, health officials said that two men who were “household contacts” of a previously confirmed case tested positive. Both are in isolation at their respective residences.

The new cases bring the total in the county to nine.

In San Mateo County, officials reported a presumed-positive case of the virus, pending testing confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That person has been hospitalized and remains under isolation. The source of their exposure is currently unknown, as the person has no known exposure to the virus through travel or through contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19.

This marks the second case in the county — the first was a person who had been repatriated to the U.S.

As coronavirus cases continue to spread across California, many under quarantine for the illness at Travis Air Force Base got some good news Monday: They were being allowed to go home.

Roughly 140 Americans from the Diamond Princess cruise ship who had been under a mandated quarantine at the Northern California base were released after showing no symptoms, health officials confirmed. Scott Pauley, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, did not have further information about whether anyone under quarantine remained at the base.

According to the CDC, at least 45 cruise ship passengers who were transported to Travis Air Force Base and Lackland Air Force Base in Texas have tested positive for the virus. Twenty-one people had previously tested positive at Travis and were transported to local hospitals.

Video showed two buses taking the evacuees from the base to either San Francisco International Airport or Sacramento International Airport before heading to their respective homes.

Last week, officials in Costa Mesa, Calif., successfully fought a federal plan to have those at the Travis base moved to the Fairview Developmental Center.

As more cases of COVID-19 were reported around the country over the weekend, the focus remained on Washington state and Northern California, where health officials say the virus has spread through community contact. Officials are continuing to search for people who came in contact with the original patients to isolate them and get them tested.

In Washington state, officials have reported 19 cases of coronavirus — 14 of which are from King County. Eight of those cases have been linked to Life Care of Kirkland, including four of the six deaths.

The deaths include a man in his 50s with no known exposures, two women in their 80s, and a man and woman in their 70s.