Jan 27, 2020
Ontario officials say tests confirm first presumptive coronavirus case
, The Canadian Press
Virus Fears Drive Sell-Off
VIDEO SIGN OUT
TORONTO -- Canada's first presumptive case of the novel coronavirus has been officially confirmed, Ontario health officials said Monday as they announced the patient's wife has also contracted the illness.
Dr. Barbara Yaffe, the province's associate chief medical officer of health, said the confirmation came through earlier in the day following tests at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg. A Toronto man in his mid-50s had initially tested positive at a provincial facility days after returning to Toronto from Wuhan — the virus's epicentre in China — via Guangzhou.
Yaffe said the testing process is now being repeated for the man's wife, believed to be the second coronavirus patient in the country.
"Her test is positive at the Ontario Public Health laboratories, and specimens are being sent to the national lab for final confirmation."
Yaffe said several other tests have been completed in recent days, with coronavirus being eliminated in 15 cases. Results are still pending for 19 others, she added, noting the couple was not accompanied by anyone else on their flight home last Wednesday.
Federal officials said on Sunday that they were reaching out to passengers who travelled on the same China Southern flight with the couple and sat within two metres of them.
The new form of coronavirus, a close cousin to respiratory illnesses such as SARS and MERS, originated in China and has spread rapidly in recent weeks.
Officials in that country have reported the illness has killed at least 81 people and infected more than 2,700 others. Several countries throughout Asia, Europe and North America have also confirmed cases of the illness. It remains to be seen whether the virus is as dangerous as the common flu, which kills thousands every year in Canada alone.
Yaffe said all cases outside of China so far include a travel history to that country.
Health officials have stressed that while human-to-human transmission of the virus does take place, it's most likely in cases involving close, prolonged contact with someone who is already infected.
