Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry said the risk of spread of this virus within B.C. remains low

B.C. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry at a press conference in Victoria, Feb. 7, 2019.
CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press
British Columbia has recorded its first case of the novel coronavirus after a resident of the Vancouver region began developing symptoms following a business trip to Wuhan, China.
Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry said the man in his 40s had returned to Vancouver last week and showed no symptoms but self-monitored out of an abundance of caution.
He contacted a primary health care provider the following day when he began developing symptoms. The man was administered a diagnostic test and that test came back positive late Monday night, Dr. Henry said.
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The mans case is still considered a presumptive positive pending confirmation from a laboratory in Winnipeg, but Dr. Henry said “we are confident this is truly a case of this novel coronavirus.”
The man is self-isolating at home and is doing well. Members of his family are asymptomatic but are in regular contact with public health officials.
Dr. Henry said the risk of spread of this virus within B.C. remains low. There is no evidence that the virus can be transmitted when the carrier is asymptomatic, she said.
The Vancouver-area case is the third presumptive positive in Canada. The other two patients, a husband and wife who flew from Guangzhou to Toronto after a visit to Wuhan, are in isolation in hospital and at home, respectively.