LOS ANGELES — The first death of a patient known to have been infected with the coronavirus has occurred in Los Angeles County, according to a briefing from the L.A. County Department of Public Health. 

The patient was a woman over the age of 60 who was not a resident of the county, but a visitor who had a layover in South Korea while traveling. 

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“Public Health extends our deepest condolences to the patient’s loved ones in the wake of this tragedy,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Los Angeles County Public Health Director. “We strongly recommend that all Los Angeles County residents, workers, students, and visitors take the necessary precautions to protect themselves against novel coronavirus. Public Health will continue working with local, state, federal, and community partners in order to prevent future cases and to educate those in Los Angeles County about how to avoid contracting COVID-19.”

The total number of cases in the region has now climbed to 27 with 24 cases in L.A. County and an additional three cases in Long Beach.

Wednesday saw six new confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus in L.A. County. Of those, three of the cases had household contact to the virus. One person was a resident who had recently returned from France. Another was someone who had traveled to a religious conference in another state.

The sixth had no known travel exposure, making them the second potential case of community exposure to occur in L.A. County. 

According to Ferrer, the woman who died suffered from an underlying health conditions and passed away shortly after being hospitalized.

The Department of Public Health is encouraging people to avoid large gatherings, although such gatherings are not yet banned, as they are in some other regions.

Classes Canceled at Universities Across SoCal

Meanwhile, colleges and universities across the Southland joined UCLA in either canceling classes, or moving them to online platforms.

UCLA's suspension of in-person classes "whenever possible" went into effect today and the univesity was joined by a number of other local universities either canceling classes or moving the online including:

  • Chapman University
  • Pepperdine
  • Cal State Long Beach
  • Coast Community College District
  • Cal State Fullerton
  • USC

COVID-19 has been officially declared a pandemic, the World Health Organization announced Wednesday.

For the latest updates go to: coronavirus.gov