A health care worker who traveled to Iran has New York's first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus.

State officials announced the case Sunday evening. The 39-year-old woman flew into New York last Tuesday and is now quarantined at her Manhattan apartment with her husband, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. She has mild symptoms.

Cuomo says medical professionals are assuming that the woman's husband may also come down with the virus, so he is being monitored as well. Passengers aboard the flight from Iran and a cab driver are being contacted so that they can be monitored as a precaution, but it is thought that the woman was not infectious while she was traveling.

Cuomo says there is "no doubt" that there will be more cases in New York, but says the state and city are ready, and adds that the public should not worry.

In Nassau County, the Department of Health tells News 12 that it is monitoring 62 people for signs of the virus. In Suffolk County, 25 people are being monitored.

 

A bill that permits Cuomo to "by executive order any directive necessary to respond to a state disaster emergency" and makes a $40,000,000 appropriation for responding to the outbreak of coronavirus passed the state senate Monday night.

 

Robust testing, he said, is a key to helping contain the disease.

More than 80,000 cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, have occurred worldwide since the virus emerged in China. About 3,000 people have died. The illness is characterized by fever and coughing and, in serious cases, shortness of breath or pneumonia.

Associated Press wire services contributed to this report.