TIGHTENING RESTRICTIONS
Canada has 4th case of new virus
Canada now has four confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, though health officials say the latest Ontario case is a mild one and there’s no evidence of heightened risk to the public.
In the U.S., where there are seven cases, the Trump administration has declared a public health emergency and taken the extraordinary step of temporarily barring entry to foreign nationals who had been to China within the 14-day incubation period.
The U.S will also limit flights from China to seven U.S. airports, and U.S. citizens who have travelled to China’s Hubei province within the past two weeks will be subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine.
Both the ban and the forced quarantine will take effect on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET.
However, the Trump administration was not considering “at the moment” more drastic actions like barring all flights from China, assistant Transportation Secretary Joel Szabat said at a White House briefing.
THEY STILL DON’T KNOW THE DATE AND
THE TIME BUT IT’S PROBABLY GOING TO BE
IN THE NEXT DAY OR TWO. I HOPE SO.
— Myriam Larouche, a canadian in Wuhan
on being flown out of china
“There is no travel ban,” said Szabat, adding: “This is an evolving situation.”
The ban on foreign nationals would exempt immediate family of U.S. citizens and permanent U.S. residents. It was not immediately clear how long the ban would be in effect.
The fourth case of the virus is Canada is that of a woman in her 20s who is a university student in London, Ont.
She returned to Canada from China on Jan. 23, Ontario health officials said Friday, but didn’t show any symptoms until the following day.
“Protocols and procedures were followed excellently, in such a way that there’s been no risk at all to Ontarians or to the health system in this process,” said Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health.
Initial testing in Ontario actually showed the woman was negative for the virus, but tests at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg came back as “weakly positive,” Williams said.
“The sense is that the viral load was very low as well,” he said, referring to the amount of virus in a person’s body. “Nevertheless to be thorough and precautionary, this one should be switched to a positive case.”
The woman, a student at Western University, had no symptoms when she returned to Canada, but has been in self-isolation ever since. She only left her home to go to hospital, where staff wore protective gear, said Dr. Chris Mackie, the medical officer of health for the Middlesex-london Health Unit.
“The patient is in home isolation,” he said. “She’s perfectly well now. She’s been well for several days.”
Both of her parents were sick in a Wuhan hospital, Mackie said, but their illnesses were mild so they weren’t tested for the novel coronavirus.
Earlier Friday, a Toronto hospital discharged a man who had Canada’s first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus.
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre said he is now recovering at home along with his wife, who also became ill with the virus.
The man in his 50s travelled to Toronto from China last week and was Canada’s first case of the virus. The patient’s wife, who travelled with him, also became ill, but had less severe symptoms and has been in self-isolation at home.
Canada’s other confirmed case is a person in British Columbia, who has also been in isolation at home. That case is also linked to recent travel.
The novel coronavirus has now infected more than 11,000 people around the world and the World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a global health emergency.
As of Friday, China counted 11,791 confirmed cases with a death toll of 249. The vast majority have been in Hubei province and its capital, Wuhan, where the first illnesses were detected in December. No deaths have been reported outside China.
More than 130 cases have been reported in at least 25 other countries and regions, with Russia, Britain, Sweden, Spain and Italy all reporting their first cases on Thursday or Friday.
Russia announced the first two cases of the coronavirus on its territory and will close its border with Mongolia to Chinese citizens from midnight local time. Plans are also being made to evacuate from Hubei province as many as 641 Russian citizens, who will be held in quarantine for 14 days.
WHO has said most people who got the illness had milder cases, though 20 per cent experienced severe symptoms. Symptoms include fever and cough, and in severe cases, shortness of breath and pneumonia.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday the government is going through a “deliberate process” to airlift nearly 200 Canadians out of Hubei province.
Canada is seeking Chinese approval to send a plane to the locked-down city of Wuhan to collect the 195 Canadians who have asked for help to leave. Trudeau said the government is co-ordinating evacuation efforts with other countries.
Myriam Larouche, a 25-year-old from L’ascension, Que., who is in Wuhan studying tourism management, said she received an email Friday morning from the Canadian government telling her to be ready to leave.
“They still don’t know the date and the time but it’s probably going to be in the next day or two,” said Larouche in a video call from her dormitory. “I hope so.”