Don’t panic, Trump tells Americans as US confirms first death from coronavirus

A man in Washington state has been confirmed as the first person to die from coronavirus in the United States.

Officials in King County, Washington, which includes the city of Seattle, said in a statement on Saturday that new cases had been identified, including one patient who died.

At a White House press conference, President Donald Trump said that the deceased patient was a man in her 50s with a high medical risk. No further information about the patient’s travel and medical history was immediately available.

Speaking to the nation, Trump expressed condolences to the family of the patient who died and addressed the outbreak, urging calm even as he said the virus spread seems inevitable.

‘Additional cases in the United States are likely, but healthy individuals should be able to fully recover,’ he said. ‘Healthy people — if you’re healthy, you’ll probably go through a process and you’ll be fine.’

Trump urged politicians and the media not to sensationalize the outbreak and provoke panic. ‘There’s no reason to panic at all,’ he said.