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LIVE: LA County leaders declare state of emergency, confirm 6 new cases of COVID-16
ABC 7 Los Angeles
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The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday declared a state of emergency for the novel coronavirus as they confirmed six new cases of the potentially deadly infection in the county in the last 48 hours.

Officials including L.A. Department of Public Health officials, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and L.A. County Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Janice Hahn said the declaration would allow greater coordination among various levels of government, stressing that they were acting out of "an abundance of caution'' and not panic.

In addition, the county Department of Public Health announced a local health emergency in response to the increase in cases.

"This declaration of a local emergency will facilitate out efforts to coordinate with all our partners and jointly implement effective strategies to protect our residents," said Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

Public health officials said they are aware of an assumed exposure source for all six cases, which rules out the possibility that they were infected through community spread.

The county's second case of COVID-19 was confirmed on Tuesday by Kaiser Permanente, who is overseeing the care of the patient, currently in self-isolation and being treated as an outpatient, a spokesperson said. Additional details regarding the case were not available.

2nd case of coronavirus in Los Angeles County confirmed, patient in self-isolation

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Passengers wear protective face masks at the airport, following the outbreak of the coronavirus, in Najaf, Iraq on March 5.
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An almost empty British Airways passenger plane flies from Milan to London on March 5, in Milan, Italy. 
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A man wearing a mask as a preventive measure against the coronavirus gestures as he speaks with a Palestinian policeman outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on March 5. The Church is to temporarily close after a suspected outbreak of coronavirus, the Palestinian health ministry announced.
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A baby wearing a face mask inside a stroller is seen in Shanghai, China on March 5.
 
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Thai officials prepare sets of face masks and hand sanitizers for sale at the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) pharmacy in Bangkok, Thailand on March 5. 
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A man uses his phone to take photographs of posters explaining the symptoms of coronavirus inside hospital premises in Kolkata, India on March 5.
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Postal workers disinfect packages from overseas to contain the spread of coronavirus in Bangkok, Thailand on March 5.
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In the aftermath of the state's first death from the coronavirus, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency to deal with the virus at a news conference in Sacramento on March 4.
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A man wearing a protective mask walks in Jerusalem, Israel on March 4.
 
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President Donald Trump, with Vice President Mike Pence, speaks during a coronavirus briefing with Airline CEOs in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on March 4 in Washington D.C.
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A couple shops with surgical masks as fears of the coronavirus spreading through the U.S. increase on March 4 in New York City.
 
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An employee of the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health wearing a mask and protective clothing takes a man's temperature on March 4.
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Army soldiers wearing protective suits spray disinfectant as a precaution against coronavirus at a shopping street in Seoul, South Korea on March 4.
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Indian security guards wearing protective masks stand inside a private school that was closed over fear of a coronavirus outbreak, in Noida, India on March 4. The school was closed after some students and teachers attended the birthday party of a boy whose father tested positive for COVID-19 after traveling back from Italy.
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Employees from a disinfection service company sanitize a KTX train at Seoul Railway Station on March 4.
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A shop offering people free hand washing on Oxford Street in London, England on March 3.
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Tourists wearing protective masks visit the Shwedagon pagoda on March 3 in Yangon, Myanmar.
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In the Central Medical Laboratory of the St. Georg Hospital in Leipzig, Germany, a medical-technical assistant prepares patient samples for coronavirus testing on March 3.
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A medical staff member checks information of a patient as patients infected by the COVID-19 coronavirus leave from Wuhan No. 5 Hospital to Leishenshan Hospital, the newly-built hospital for the COVID-19 coronavirus patients on March 3.
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Paramedics in protective suits and Israelis wearing masks and gloves stand near a dedicated polling station where people under quarantine from the coronavirus can vote in Israel's national election, in Tel Aviv, on Mar. 2.
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Harborview Medical Center's home assessment team, including (L to R) Michelle Steik, Lucy Greenfield, and Krista Reitberg prepare to visit the home of a person potentially exposed to novel coronavirus, at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington on Feb. 29.
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Health workers wearing protective gear check Nepali citizens evacuated from China as they are under quarantine following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, in Nepal, on Feb. 29.
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French government officials, including French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (1st-L), French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire (2nd-L), French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe (3rd-L), French Health and Solidarity Minister Olivier Veran (4th-L) and French President Emmanuel Macron (3rd-R) attend a defense council concerning the coronavirus outbreak, in Paris, France, on Feb. 29.
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A tourist affected by coronavirus is transferred to a hospital from the hotel H10 Costa Adeje Palace, which is on lockdown after novel coronavirus has been confirmed in Adeje, on island of Tenerife, Spain, on Feb. 29.
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Hugo Lopez-Gatell Ramirez, Mexico's Undersecretary of Health Prevention and Promotion, holds a news conference on information about the new coronavirus, in Mexico City, on Feb. 27.
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Passengers remain onboard the MSC Meraviglia cruise ship in Cozumel, Mexico, on Feb. 27.  A cruise carrying 6,000 people which was turned away by Jamaica and the Cayman Islands after a crew member tested positive for flu, has docked in Mexico. 
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Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan is seen on a screen as he delivers the annual budget at the legislative council in Hong Kong on Feb. 26. Hong Kong's government said it will give a 10,000 HKD (1,280 USD) handout to seven million permanent residents in a bid to jump-start a recession-hit economy after the coronavirus outbreak.
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A Chinese tourist (front right), who was tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus and was isolated for treatment, receives a kiss from Sri Lankan Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi and medical staff after she was discharged from the hospital near Colombo on Feb. 19. The 43-year-old woman, the first and only COVID-19 patient in Sri Lanka, was admitted to the hospital on January 25 and tested positive for COVID-19 two days later.
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Workers go about their duties at a section of the Leishenshan Hospital, the newly-built makeshift hospital for novel coronavirus patients, in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on Feb. 18. The first group of patients infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus was discharged from Leishenshan Hospital on Feb. 18, according to local media. 

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Jay Butler, Deputy Director for Infectious Diseases addresses the media about response to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19 ) as Senior Adviser Ed Rouse looks on, at the Emergency Operations Center inside The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on Feb. 13 in Atlanta.
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The ultrastructural morphology exhibited by the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China, is seen in an illustration released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, on Jan. 29.

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News of the new L.A. County cases came on the heels of Orange County health officials announcing Tuesday that two people tested positive for the novel coronavirus, though the diagnoses were described as "presumptive positive," pending final confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

County health officer Dr. Nichole Quick said the county recently improved its ability to perform COVID-19 testing and therefore "we expect to see more cases here in Orange County."

Nine deaths have been reported in the United States, all in Washington state. More than 93,000 cases of the illness have been confirmed globally.

2 coronavirus cases reported in Orange County - and health officials warn to expect more

DEVELOPING: This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

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