The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, issued an update about the novel coronavirus that is continuing to spread human infection throughout the world.
"CDC continues to work closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners to better understand the public health risk posed by a novel coronavirus that was first reported to cause human infection in September 2012," the agency said in a statement.
"Genetic sequence analyses have shown that this new virus is different from any other known human coronaviruses, including the one that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)."
Eight out of the 14 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection have resulted in death.
And while no cases have been reported in the United States, three cases were confirmed in the United Kingdom in a cluster within one family.
One of the family members traveled outside the UK to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and there was speculation as to whether the infected individual was infected abroad and then spread the coronavirus when he returned home.
"Based on their ongoing investigation of their cluster of illnesses, the UK Health Protection Agency has concluded that person-to-person transmission likely occurred in the UK within his family," the CDC said in a written statement.
This case provided evidence that human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus was indeed taking place.
The CDC has created a site to provide updates on the public health risk posed by the novel coronavirus (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/ncv) and the agency warns anyone who develops severe acute lower respiratory illness within 10 days after traveling to the Arabian Peninsula or any neighboring countries to be monitored under current guidelines.