Washington (AFP)

U.S. health officials announced on Friday that 195 Americans repatriated from Wuhan, China, due to the epidemic of the new coronavirus, were subject to mandatory quarantine, the first by the federal government since the 1960s.

"The quarantine will last 14 days from the time the plane left Wuhan," said Nancy Messonnier, director of respiratory diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), during a conference call. The plane left Wednesday early in China and landed in Riverside, California on Wednesday local time.

The passengers had initially voluntarily agreed to stay 72 hours on the March Air Reserve Base where they were installed after the arrival of their plane.

It is the first time in 50 years that the CDC has taken a quarantine order, according to Nancy Messonnier. The last quarantine ordered by the federal government dates from the 1960s against smallpox, according to Martin Cetron, responsible for quarantines.

"We know this is unprecedented action, but we are facing an unprecedented public health threat," said Nancy Messonnier.

So far, the same official insisted during daily points that the risk remained "low" in the United States, which she did not repeat on Friday.

"We prefer to be blamed for over-reacting rather than under-reacting," she said.

None of the passengers had symptoms of pneumonia caused by the virus. Analyzes are underway, but she warned that even a negative result would not be a guarantee that a person was out of danger.

The person in charge justified the decision by, in particular, new information mentioning transmissions of the virus by asymptomatic people.

One of the passengers attempted to leave the base, which had previously prompted a quarantine order from the county where the base is located, said Martin Cetron. But he said that almost all of the passengers were cooperating. "These are American citizens who want to do the right thing," he said.

The decision aims "to prevent as much as possible the transmission of the virus in the United States," insisted Nancy Messonnier.

"Please do not let fear and panic guide you," said the official. "Don't assume that an Asian person has this new coronavirus."

The United States has confirmed six cases to date, and analyzes are underway on 121 people.

© 2020 AFP