No confirmed cases of coronavirus in Florida, DeSantis says

Governor claims ā€˜a number of peopleā€™ in Florida ā€˜had some concernsā€™ after traveling to China

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says during a Jan. 27, 2020, news conference that everyone who has been tested for the coronavirus "has come back negative, so we do not have a confirmed case in the state of Florida." (WPLG)

BOCA RATON, Fla. ā€“ Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida is free from the coronavirus -- for now.

Speaking at a news conference in Boca Raton, DeSantis said Monday there are no confirmed cases of the respiratory illness first identified in Wuhan, China.

"We have had a number of people who had been in that area of China and had some concerns about whether they had contracted the coronavirus," DeSantis told reporters. "Everybody to this date who has been tested has come back negative, so we do not have a confirmed case in the state of Florida."

So far there are five confirmed U.S. cases of the coronavirus, mostly on the west coast. All had traveled to Wuhan.

The nearest confirmed case is in Illinois, but there are 26 states in which people are under investigation for the deadly virus.