US capital reports first ‘presumptive’ coronavirus case

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - The U.S. capital of Washington D.C. reported its first coronavirus case Saturday, according to its mayor.

"Late this afternoon, testing at the Public Health Lab at the DC Department of Forensic Sciences yielded its first presumptive positive coronavirus (COVID-19) case," Mayor Muriel Bowser said on Twitter.

She will hold a briefing at 7.30 p.m. EST (0030GMT).

The case is "presumptive" pending Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmatory testing.

The U.S. coronavirus death toll rose to 17 after another person died in the state of Florida. More than 300 people have been diagnosed with the virus in the country.

First detected in Wuhan, China in December, the disease, also known as COVID-19 now is present in over 87 countries worldwide.

The global death toll has crossed 3,300, with more than 100,000 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).