Chicago woman who traveled to China diagnosed with coronavirus, health officials say

A Chicago woman who returned from caring for her sick father in China earlier this month has been diagnosed with the respiratory coronavirus that has sickened more than 800 in China and killed at least 26, officials said.

The woman, who is in her 60s, remained hospitalized Friday and her condition had been stabilized and is “clinically doing well," said Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, on a news call with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The woman traveled to Wuhan, China, in late December and on Jan. 13 returned to Chicago, Arwady said.

There have been 830 cases of the illness confirmed and at least 26 people have died, including two outside the Chinese province of Hubei. The outbreak began last month in the city of Wuhan in Hubei. Scientists have identified the illness as a new kind of coronavirus, a large family of viruses, some of which cause the common cold.