Around 160 people who were quarantined after being evacuated from the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, are scheduled to be released from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Tuesday.
The Americans set to be released were aboard a plane that arrived at MCAS Miramar on Feb. 5. A second plane carrying 65 more arrived at the base on Feb. 7.
About 160 people are scheduled to leave the base Tuesday and another 60 are set to leave on Thursday, KPBS reported.
All of the passengers were scheduled to undergo a 14-day quarantine upon arrival at the Marine base.
To date, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed two of the evacuees tested positive for the coronavirus. The pair are currently in isolation at UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest.
Four people from the first flight were hospitalized after arriving at the base because they showed possible symptoms of the disease.
Due to a miscommunication between UCSD Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the four patients were initially declared free of the virus and returned to quarantine at Miramar on Feb. 9. But tests confirmed the next day that the one patient had actually tested positive, and she was returned to the hospital and placed in isolation.
Health officials confirmed Wednesday that a second patient contracted the illness. That patient was one of 65 people aboard a flight that landed at Miramar on Feb. 7.
Nearly 200 Americans arrived at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside on Jan. 29 and were quarantined there after being evacuated from Wuhan. That quarantine period ended on Feb. 11, with none of them showing any signs of the disease.
Worldwide, there have been more than 73,000 reported cases of the disease, which has killed more than 1,800 people, mostly in China.