California announces 3 new coronavirus cases bringing US total to 11

Health officials in California announced three new cases of coronavirus infection, bringing the total in the United States to 11, media has reported.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a married couple in San Benito County has been diagnosed with the virus after the husband returned from Wuhan, China; the epicenter of the outbreak which has killed more than 360 people according to the latest figures.

In Santa Clara County, just south of San Francisco, a woman who had also visited Wuhan was confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus, the newspaper reported citing local health officials. This is the second case in that Santa Clara after a man was reported with the virus last week having also returned from Wuhan.

This brings the total number of cases in the state of six.

"With our large population and the amount of travel to China for both personal and business reasons, we will likely see more cases," LA Times quoted Santa Clara County's health officer Sara Cody as saying.

The novel coronavirus became known late December 2019 and has since spread to 20 countries and infected over 17,000 people mostly in China. Most nations have evacuated their citizens while strict measures have been exacted by the Chinese government to quell further spread of the virus.