Health officials announce new presumptive case of COVID-19 in Quebec

The second presumptive case of COVID-19 in Quebec has been announced by the province’s health agency on Thursday morning.

According to Quebec’s Ministry of Health and Social Services (Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux) preliminary tests performed by the ministry’s laboratory came back positive.

Officials are now waiting for results to be confirmed by the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. Cases are deemed presumptive until final results come back from national testing.

If confirmed, it would become the second case of COVID-19 in Quebec and the 35th in the country.

• See also:
  • Jewish General Hospital ready to quarantine possible coronavirus cases
  • A probable case of coronavirus has been identified in Montreal
  • This website tracks and maps the spread of coronavirus in (almost) real-time
  • Quebec is taking “necessary measures” to protect citizens from the coronavirus

The case in question concerns a person who recently returned from a trip to India, say health officials.

The province’s first confirmed case of the virus is a woman who had travelled to Iran. She was seen at the Jewish General Hospital on Tuesday but was allowed to return home after her case was described as mild.

Other confirmed cases in Canada have been in British Columbia and Ontario.

Quebec public health said the risk is still considered “low” in the province.