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Zero cases of COVID-19 coronavirus in Houston, Health Department says

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — With rising fears in the U.S. of an outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus, Houston Health Department said Sunday that there were no cases of the virus in the Houston-area.

This news comes after the Centers for Disease Control counted 11 cases of the coronavirus in Texas.

Nine of the cases came from the Diamond Princess cruise liner that disembarked from Japan, according to CDC.

Of those nine, six were confirmed by the CDC and the other three tested positive in Japan. Those cases are under quarantine at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

In addition, two other cases involved individuals who were repatriated to Texas from the Wuhan province of China, where the deadly COVID-19 strain may have begun. The CDC said those cases were under isolation and receiving care at a designated medical facility.

Sunday afternoon, Mayor Sylvester Turner sent a message to Houstonians via Twitter in hopes to set the record straight about some social media rumors related to the virus.

Sylvester Turner

@SylvesterTurner

There are a lot of things being said on social media. But just for the record there are no confirmed cases of the in Houston, Harris County. st

212 people are talking about this

The concern of an outbreak has created a far-reaching impact beyond Texas, with other states dealing with their own public health crises.

In the Houston area, COVID-19 has impacted local businesses as well as overseas travel from southeast Texas.

On Saturday, Rice University asked a group of its students and employees to self-quarantine after fearing that an employee who traveled overseas may have been exposed to the virus.

The university said the procedure was taken out of an abundance of caution.

The video above is from a previous story.

SEE ALSO: Meet the Houston doctors working on coronavirus vaccine

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