350 US citizens evacuated from China placed under coronavirus quarantine at military bases

Another group of nearly 350 Americans airliftedfromthe epicenter ofChina's fast-spreadingcoronavirusoutbreak wereplacedunderquarantineat twomilitarybasesin California on Wednesday, as the number of confirmedUScases of the disease rose to 12.

The travelers aboard two State Department-chartered cargo jets were met by personnelfromthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for screening, and are to remainundermandatoryquarantinefor 14 days, the incubation period of the virus.

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Five of the passengers arrived exhibiting possible symptoms, two of them children, and were immediately hospitalized, along with the mother of one of the youngsters, the CDC said.

The latestevacuees, together with 195 Americans flown out of Wuhan,China, a week ago by theUSgovernment, bring to 540 the number people subject so far to the CDC's first public healthquarantinein 50 years. Wuhan, inChina's Hubei province, is the epicenter of the disease.

The two planes in Wednesday's airlift arrived at Travis Air Force Base in northern California, where 178 passengersfromone plane disembarked to begin two weeks of round-the-clock health screening while barredfromcontact with the general public.

None of the group showed signs of disease, except for a small child who developed a fever during the flight and was taken to a nearby hospital with its mother for further testing and medical treatment in isolation, officials said. The otherevacueesat Travis will be housed in a hotel on base.

After refueling, the second evacuation plane flew on to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, near San Diego, arriving with 167 passenger. Of that group, three adults and a child "were determined to have a fever or a cough that warranted them being transported to a local hospital for further evaluation," the CDC said. The rest wereplacedunderquarantineat two housing sites on base.