BC's first case of coronavirus has officially recovered: Health Officer
Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer, has announced that the province’s first case of COVID-19 has fully recovered.
The first case, which was diagnosed by health officials at the end of January, is a man in his 40s from the Vancouver area who regularly travels to China for work. It was announced last week that he had provided one blood sample that showed he no longer possessed signs of the virus.
Henry announced this morning that the patient had a second negative test over the weekend and has fully recovered.
“He’s considered cured and is no longer required to be in isolation,” she says.
BC’s second, third, and fourth cases of COVID-19, all of whom are residing in the same household, are also said to be in very good condition. Henry says that the three individuals are asymptomatic and that it’s “fully expected that their testing will come back negative in the next few days.”
The second patient was a woman in her 50s who lives in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, and the third and fourth patients were family members who normally live in China’s Hubei province. They were visiting the woman in her 50s and it was believed that one of the visitors transmitted the virus to the two other patients.
The province’s fifth presumptive positive case, a woman in her 30s who lives in BC’s Interior Health region, is said to be in stable condition at her home and is being monitored very closely.
Henry also says that in total, there have been over 500 tests conducted in British Columbia, with only five cases recorded in total. She also says that many of the individuals tested positive for influenza, which she says is “not surprising” given that it’s influenza season in both Vancouver and in China.
With files from Megan Devlin.
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