Canadian coronavirus patient had symptoms on flight back from China
TORONTO – For the second time in 17 years, Canada’s largest city has become this country’s ground zero in the fight to contain an outbreak of a newly identified organism that is spreading worldwide.
A Toronto man in his 50s was confirmed Sunday as Canada’s first presumed case of the rogue virus known as 2019-ncov, a coronavirus that surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan on New Year’s Eve. Officials are urging calm as they work to contain the illness in Canada and rapidly trace passengers who were seated within a two-metre radius of the man, who was already experiencing symptoms when he boarded his transoceanic flight home to Toronto.
The man flew from Wuhan to Guangzhou and from there to Toronto, arriving at Pearson International Airport Wednesday on China Southern Airlines flight CZ311. Upon arrival at Toronto, the man did not report to border-service officers that he was feeling ill, despite “detection” measures at the airport, which includes screening questions at electronic border kiosks that ask about previous travel to Wuhan in the past 14 days and remind people to report flu-like symptoms to border service agents.
Fact sheets in English, French and Chinese have also been developed that outline flu-like symptoms people should watch for and to seek medical attention should they start feeling sick.
Instead, the man went home. The next day a family member called 911 to report he was feeling ill, and that he had recently travelled to Wuhan.
Paramedics, donned in protective gear, took him to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, where he was immediately placed in isolation in a negative-pressure room. He was listed in stable condition Saturday. The man’s family is also in self-isolation. Story continues below When asked at a press briefing Sunday if the man reported symptoms to border-service agents at the Toronto airport, Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, responded, “This patient was not reported to us, no.”
After he became more ill, “when he needed medical support, in fact he followed all the information provided at the airport,” federal health minister Patty Hajdu said. “For me, that is a sign that the information at the border did actually percolate through to the patient and his family.”
“The system is working and the person obviously got the information that they needed to enter the health system in a safe and responsible manner,” Tam added.
Using the plane’s seating charts, Toronto public health officials are contacting passengers of flight CZ311 who may have had close contact with the man, particularly those who had “prolonged contact.”
“We are informing these people that they may have been exposed to a potential health risk, what signs and symptoms they should look out for and when and what type of medical treatment should be sought out, if that becomes necessary,” Toronto’s medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa said in a statement Sunday.