04/04/2023

Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu and Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Pauline Tam will hold a news conference in Ottawa this morning after Canada confirmed its first “presumptive” case of coronavirus in Toronto on Saturday. The news conference is set t…

Federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu and Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Pauline Tam will hold a news conference in Ottawa this morning to update Canadians on the coronavirus outbreak.
Canada confirmed its first “presumptive” case of coronavirus in Toronto on Saturday after receiving lab results. The patient, a man in his 50s who had recently travelled to Wuhan, China, is isolated at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and is now in stable condition.
The news conference is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. ET and CBCNews.ca will carry it live.
The number of infections worldwide now exceeds 2,000 cases, most of them in China, which reports 56 deaths.
“All necessary precautions are being taken to prevent the spread of infection. This makes it the first case in Canada, pending confirmation of the result by PHAC’s National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg,” Hajdu said in a statement Saturday.
“The government of Canada has been working closely with provincial and territorial counterparts, and international partners, since China first reported 2019-nCoV cases to ensure that our country is prepared to limit the spread of 2019-nCoV in Canada. Canadian hospitals have strong infection control systems and procedures in place to limit the spread of infection and protect health care workers.”
Risk mitigation measures now in place include messaging on arrival screens at the Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver airports reminding travellers to advise border officials if they are experiencing flu-like symptoms.
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“While the risk of an outbreak of novel coronavirus in Canada remains low, I encourage Canadians to tell your health-care professional if you have travelled to an affected area of China, and develop flu-like symptoms,” Hajdu said.
Officials said the man took a flight on Jan. 21 from Wuhan to Guangzhou, then from Guangzhou to Toronto, arriving on Jan. 22.
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He is believed to have travelled “privately” from the airport to his home. Officials do not believe he took public transit. They have not said what part of the city the man lives in.
Upon arriving, he told family members he felt ill and called 911. Officials say paramedics arrived prepared, taking all necessary precautions “right from first contact” until the hand-off to the hospital’s emergency department on Jan. 23, officials say.