Five coronavirus patients from cruise ship being treated in Texas, heath officials say

Six cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in San Antonio, Texas, the Centers for Disease Control announced.

Five patients infected with COVID-19 were on the Diamond Princess cruise ship and are being treated at a local medical facility, KENS reported.

The sixth patient was evacuated from Wuhan, China — where the virus is believed to have originated — and is in “federal isolation at a local medical facility,” according to WOAI.

The patient was part of a group brought to San Antonio on Feb. 6, KENS reported.

The Diamond Princess cruise ship set sail from Yokohama, Japan on Jan. 20 with 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew members on board, the company said. It was quarantined for two weeks after a passenger tested positive for COVID-19.

A total 634 passengers tested positive for COVID-19 and two people have died, Business Insider reported.

“Because the passengers on the Diamond Princess were in a close setting where there has been a significant spread of COVID-19, they are considered at high-risk for infection and we expect to see additional confirmed cases among this group,” the CDC said in a statement, according to WOAI.

Almost 140 of he ship’s passengers are still quarantined at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, KTSA reported. Ninety people who were evacuated from China were released last week.

Despite the confirmed cases, health officials say they believe the COVID-19’s threat to the public is low.

“At this time, we continue to believe the risk of coronavirus exposure to the general public is low, including in San Antonio and Bexar County,” CDC spokeswoman Kate Grusich told KTSA.