Ottawa puts up $1B to fight virus

OTTAWA — The federal government rolled out a $1-billion package Wednesday to help the country’s health-care system and economy cope with the novel coronavirus outbreak as the number of cases in Canada grew.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned the situation could get worse, and the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.

Multiple health authorities reported a flurry of new positive tests for COVID-19, including one person at Canadian Forces Base Trenton repatriated from a cruise ship docked in California, and a man in Sudbury, Ont., who had attended a large mining conference in Toronto.

That conference included appearances by Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and federal Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan and Mary Ng, the minister of small business and international trade.

O’Regan and Ng are in self-isolation awaiting test results after showing symptoms of a respiratory illness, although O’Regan believes he has a simple head cold and Ng thinks she is suffering from asthma and a cold.

With more than 118,000 people sickened around the world, including more than 100 in Canada, the WHO called on countries to mitigate the social and economic impacts while minimizing the disruption to everyday life.

B.C. now has 46 cases of COVID-19, including its first one on Vancouver Island.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says seven of the newly diagnosed people include two workers at a long-term care home where four other employees have been infected.

The North Vancouver facility is also where a man in his 80s died earlier this week.

Henry says three of the new cases are linked to Egypt and include a visitor in his 70s whose relatives in the Fraser Valley are now also in isolation.

She says the province will put more focus on enhancing prevention of the novel coronavirus at long-term care facilities to protect vulnerable elderly people and staff.

Henry says more screening of employees and visitors will be done at the facilities, which will be off limits to groups of visitors.

Alberta is reporting five new cases COVID-19, bringing the provincial total to 19.

Trudeau said Canada’s government is considering more measures to contain COVID-19, such as what to do with incoming cruise ships.

He demurred on when the government would opt for stricter measures like community-wide lockdowns, such as those in China and Italy.

“It’s not about time. It’s about the situation and the facts on the ground.

“We will closely monitor what is needed

to be done to keep Canadians safe,” Trudeau said, flanked by key ministers and Canada’s chief public health officer.

“While we are prepared for a wide range of scenarios, we will focus right now on what needs to be done now and endeavour to make sure that is enough, that we don’t have to take future steps.”

The outbreak has caused an upheaval in the economy, the cancellation of major conferences and events like the World Figure Skating Championships scheduled for next week in Montreal and the BC Council of Forest Industries 2020 convention in Prince George, changes in travel plans and workplace travel bans like those now imposed on parliamentary groups.

Yukon Premier Sandy Silver said on Twitter he won’t attend a meeting with Trudeau and other premiers beginning Thursday “out of an abundance of caution.”

The Public Health Agency of Canada says the risk to the general population is low and most people diagnosed with COVID-19

experience manageable symptoms like a fever or cough.

For some, such as seniors and those with compromised immune systems or pre-existing conditions, the illness can be more severe.

The first presumptive case east of Quebec was reported on Wednesday in New Brunswick.

Jennifer Russell, the province’s chief medical officer of health, says the case involves a woman between 50 and 60 years old in the southern part of the province. The woman recently travelled from France and is in self-isolation.

Among the Canadians diagnosed with the illness so far, fewer than 15 per cent have required hospitalization. One has died — the man at the nursing home in North Vancouver.

Federal health minister Patty Hajdu said the government expects between 30 and 70 per cent of Canadians could contract the disease.

The government has been preparing its response “as if it was a pandemic,” said Hajdu, adding that the WHO’s labelling the outbreak a pandemic wasn’t a surprise.

She told a House of Commons committee half of the $1 billion spending package will go to help

provinces and territories prepare and react, and pay for protective gear like masks and gowns for health workers.

A smaller portion of the spending eases access to federal benefits for workers whose livelihoods are disrupted by COVID-19, aiming to make it easier for people with more precarious jobs to stay home, avoid infecting others, and get income supports quickly.

Federal officials are eyeing ways to help those who don’t qualify for employment insurance receive benefits, possibly providing grants as was done during the SARS outbreak in 2003.

Federal lending is also going to ramp up to help businesses get credit to handle the economic shock, similar to a program during the financial crisis just over a decade ago that provided $11 billion to 10,000 firms.

"I kind of have to quarantine myself from the public," said 24-year-old Paul Redman, who has the genetic lung disorder cystic fibrosis and was on Parliament Hill on Wednesday to meet with MPs about drug regulations.

He added later that Canadians should “be aware that there are people who are very vulnerable out there, such as myself. If (I) get a cold, I could die.”