34 cases of coronavirus under investigation in Ontario, no new cases confirmed
The Government of Ontario said that 34 possible cases of coronavirus are under investigation in the province.
This number is up from Monday, which was 29, according to the daily updated status provided by the provincial government.
In a newly released format, the province said that the total number of patients approved for the testing to date is 139.
Of those, 90 were confirmed negative on both the local and national level, at the Winnipeg lab.
Twelve cases are currently presumptive negative, which means they have tested negative at the local Ontario lab, but not yet on the national level.
The number of confirmed cases is now four, with three in Ontario, and one in BC. The first two cases in Ontario — a husband and wife in their mid-50s — are now confirmed to be at home.
The third Ontario patient was a female in her 20s, and has recovered and is well, according to health officials last week.
Ontario Government
In an update on Monday, Dr. Eileen de Villa, Medical Officer of Health, Toronto Public Health, said that the risk to the community remains low.
“Currently, there are only two confirmed cases of this virus in Toronto. Both of these people are recovering well at home in isolation and Toronto Public Health staff continue to connect with them directly to monitor their symptoms and ensure that they remain isolated at home,” she said.
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“While I truly appreciate that this situation and the associated uncertainties are stressful for many people, I think it is important to remember that the novel coronavirus was only identified about a month ago,” Dr. de Villa added.
“The science on this matter is quickly unfolding, and it is being updated and shared with health experts expeditiously. As your Medical Officer of Health, I see this as good news and it gives me great reassurance and confidence in our public health system.”
In an update last week, officials said a “small number of people” under investigation were on the same flight as the confirmed couple. According to Toronto Public Health, the man and woman who were Ontario’s first confirmed cases recently returned from Wuhan/China on China Southern Airlines flight CZ311, which arrived in Toronto on January 22 from Guangzhou.
While the officials only released information on the January 22 flight, Air Canada announced that it would temporarily suspend all direct flights to Beijing and Shanghai until February 29.
The suspension follows the Government of Canada’s advisory to avoid non-essential travel to mainland China in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency as a result of the outbreak during the past week.
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