Four new cases of virus in Ontario
Quebec couple returning from Japan: daughter
TORONTO • Ontario health officials announced four more cases of the new coronavirus in the province on Sunday, bringing the total diagnoses in Canada to 24.
All four of the patients had recently travelled overseas, so the province said it appears the virus is not yet spreading locally.
“However, given the global circumstances, Ontario is actively working with city and health partners to plan for the potential of local spread,” the ministry of health wrote in a statement.
There have now been 15 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario, though the first three patients have since been cleared of the virus.
Of the four new cases, three had recently been in Iran, the province said. All four people are in self-isolation at home.
One is a Toronto man in his 50s currently staying in Vaughan, Ont. He and his brother, who was also diagnosed with COVID-19, were in Iran recently.
Another of the cases is a man from York Region in his 40s, who recently returned from Iran with his wife and toddler. His wife was confirmed to have COVID-19 on Saturday.
The third is a Toronto man in his 50s who got back from Iran a week ago and went to hospital on Friday.
“As per protocols, he went into self-isolation where he remains with minimal contact with others,” the health ministry said in its statement. “Toronto Public Health is actively engaged in contact tracing and case management.”
The fourth patient is a woman in her 70s from Newmarket, Ont. She was in Egypt with another person who was recently diagnosed with the virus.
Thus far, health officials have said, all of the cases of COVID-19 in Canada are either in people who had recently travelled abroad or who were in close contact with those who had. British Columbia has reported eight cases, and Quebec is reporting one.
The epicentre of the virus is in China, where nearly 80,000 people have been diagnosed and more than 2,800 have died.
Meanwhile, a Quebec couple who contracted the novel coronavirus aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan will soon be on their way home after testing negative for the virus, their daughter said Sunday.
Chantal Menard said she learned early Sunday morning that her mother was being discharged from hospital after a second test confirmed she no longer had the illness. Her father tested negative last Wednesday.
Diane and Bernard Menard, who are in their 70s, were among the more than 700 people who contracted COVID-19 aboard the ship, which has been docked in Yokohama since early February.
Their daughter said the news was welcome after weeks of worry and frantic calls to consular officials.
“We’re very happy because at one moment we lost hope, but you can’t ever lose hope,” she said in a phone interview.
Menard said her parents were on the last day of their month-long tour of Asia when they learned the boat was under quarantine.
The couple from Gatineau, Que. tested positive in mid-february and were transported to a Japanese military hospital with symptoms including coughing and fever.
Menard said the couple will spend the next day or two in a hotel while the family organizes their trip home, but she hopes they’ll be back in Canada by Friday.
She said it’s unclear whether they’ll have to face another quarantine when they return, on top of the two they’ve already done in Japan. If so, she believes it will be at home.
“For sure we’ll go to the house to look at them through the curtains,” she said with a laugh. “We’ll set ourselves up on the outdoor patio and do a simultaneous toast.”
She says consular services and the Canadian Red Cross have been helping the family.
Despite the family’s happiness, Menard said she still worries about other Canadians from the ship who remain in Japan.
“I hope it will send them a message of hope,” she said.