U.S. health official hopeful some evacuees may be released from quarantine today

An official from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said she hoped the first group of Americans evacuated from the coronavirus-stricken Chinese city of Wuhan could be released from their quarantine on Tuesday. Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC's principal deputy director, told a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington that the 195 people who arrived in the United States on Jan. 29 are being assessed, and she is hopeful they will be able to travel home on Tuesday. They will have been under quarantine for 14 days.

The group, mostly U.S. State Department employees and their families, were evacuated from the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak aboard a U.S. government-chartered cargo jet and flown to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County about 60 miles (97 km) east of Los Angeles.