Test Results Negative for Two Suspected Coronavirus Cases in Minnesota

(FOX 9) – The Minnesota Department of Health confirmed Monday the laboratory results for the suspected cases of the new coronavirus in the state came back negative for the illness.

On Friday, state health officials said they were evaluating two people in Minnesota for possible coronavirus. MDH sent samples from both patients to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing. The results came back negative over the weekend.

MDH issued an alert to clinics across the state last week asking health care providers to contact them if they see a patient with respiratory symptoms who has recently traveled to the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus first appeared last month.

As of Monday afternoon, there are more than 2,700 cases of the viral respiratory illness worldwide—most of them in Wuhan. Eighty-one people have died in the outbreak so far, all of them in China.

The CDC has confirmed five cases of coronavirus in the United States—two in southern California and one each in Washington state, Chicago and Arizona.

(Information from our sister station Fox 9 in the Twin Cities)