WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department said on Friday that 24 Americans working at U.S. embassy in Cuba had been confirmed to fall ill.
"We can't rule out additional new cases as medical professional continue to evaluate members of the embassy community," said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert in a statement.
The U.S. State Department revealed in August that several Americans working at the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, suffered physical symptoms caused by some "incidents."
No details of the injuries have been released, but media reports said the affected Americans suffered a severe hearing loss and at least one victim suffered some "brain damage."
The U.S. authorities previously told reporters that at least 22 Americans suffered physical symptoms.
In the statement on Friday, Nauert said the new assessment did not "reflect new attacks."
"As noted before, the most recent medically confirmed attack occurred near the end of August," said Nauert.
The United States expelled two Cuban diplomats in late May and then in September, the United States ordered more than half of the staff at the U.S. embassy in Havana to leave and warned against travels to Cuba.
Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez has reaffirmed that the investigation to resolve this matter is still in progress, adding that "effective cooperation" of U.S. authorities was essential.
Cuba had said that the U.S. withdrawal of its diplomatic personnel is a "hasty decision" that will affect bilateral relations.
The United States and Cuba officially resumed a diplomatic relationship in July 2015, more than five decades after they severed it.
