A man in Washington state has been diagnosed with the mysterious coronavirus virus, the first case confirmed in the United States since the illnesses first appeared in China last month and which has killed at least six people and sickened hundreds more in Asia, according to people familiar with the investigation.
The man is in stable condition. He arrived in the United States last week, before federal health officials began screening travellers from the central Chinese city of Wuhan at Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York's John F. Kennedy international airports.
The outbreak has grown rapidly in recent days, with authorities in China reporting cases in multiple cities. The World Health Organisation is meeting tomorrow to decide whether to declare the outbreak a public health emergency.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to announce details about the US case in an afternoon news conference.
In Australia, a Brisbane man was put into isolation after returning from a Chinese province with a respiratory illness.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young said the Brisbane man is recovering at home but will undergo further tests for the new coronavirus, which has already proved deadly overseas.

Video shows medics checking temperatures of passengers on a flight from Wuhan to Macau. Video / Weibo

A Queensland Health spokesman said the man has recently returned from Central China with a respiratory illness.
"Because the man travelled to Wuhan, Coronavirus is one of the conditions he is being tested for," he said. "The man will remain in isolation until his symptoms have resolved.
Face masks sold out and officials at airports and train stations checked passengers for fevers as China on Tuesday sought to control the outbreak of a new virus that has reached four other countries and territories and threatens to spread further during the Lunar New Year travel rush.
Anxiety grew both at home and abroad after Chinese government expert Zhong Nanshan confirmed fears on state television late Monday that the new type of coronavirus can spread from human to human.
Six people have died and 291 have been infected in China, the National Health Commission said Tuesday.
The stock prices of some companies that sell masks rose Tuesday, but markets fell in much of Asia as investors worried about the potential impact on tourism and the economy.
Concerned about a global outbreak similar to SARS, another coronavirus that spread from China to more than a dozen countries in 2002-2003, numerous nations have adopted screening measures for travelers from China, especially those arriving from Wuhan, the central city where the virus appears to have originated.
Guards at Wuhan's airport pointed electronic thermometers at travelers. Several online retailers were sold out of masks, which were being sold for more than 10 times their original price. Users of the popular Weibo social media platform urged others to wash their hands and stay home.
Outside the Wuhan Medical Treatment Center, where many of the coronavirus patients are receiving care, several workers were dressed in full-body biohazard suits, supplemented by goggles, masks and plastic wrapped around their shoes.
While many wore masks in Wuhan, streets were far from deserted and people appeared to be carrying on with their regular activities.
"I'm not that worried," said Helen Cao, a Wuhan resident who was shopping on a downtown avenue lined with stores and full of pedestrians. Like many in the city, she began wearing a mask after hearing Zhong's assessment of human-to-human transmission.
"Maybe people from other places are more concerned about our health, but (Wuhan) locals actually are continuing to eat, go out and take strolls, go clubbing at night," Cao said. "Everything's very normal, everyone's just wearing masks, nothing more."
Initial symptoms of the new coronavirus include fever, cough, tightness of the chest and shortness of breath.
The first cases late last...