Hope for treating the novel coronavirus could be on the horizon, as the first US study of a drug to treat the illness is underway.

So far, there is no cure or vaccine for the virus, which has infected more than 80,000 people and killed over 2,700 worldwide in the past few months.

News of the drug testing came Tuesday, just as a federal health official warned that the virus will eventually start spreading in US communities.

A clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the antiviral drug remdesivir in adults diagnosed with coronavirus started at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, the National Institutes of Health said.

The first participant is an American who was evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Japan.

Also on Tuesday, top officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned about the potential spreading of the novel coronavirus in the US.

"We expect we will see community spread in this country," said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. "It's not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness."

There have been more than 80,000 cases of coronavirus worldwide. The death toll is now more than 2,700, the majority in mainland China.
The US has now confirmed 57 cases, US health officials said Tuesday, a number that is expected to grow.

"We are asking the American public to work with us to prepare in the expectation that this could be bad," Messonnier said.

(CNN)