3 new cases of coronavirus in Ontario, 1 in B.C.

Ontario confirmed three new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Greater Toronto Area on Saturday, bringing the total number of cases to 11.

The first case is a 34-year-old woman from York Region who had been to Iran but also had a layover in Denmark. She arrived in Toronto with her husband and child on Feb. 26 and went to McKenzie Health in Richmond Hill on Feb. 27. She was not wearing a face mask when she flew to Pearson Airport.

She was not admitted to the hospital due to a low severity of symptoms and she remains in self-isolation, the government said in a news release.

York Regional Health officials said they are waiting on tests from the husband and child.

“The comforting thing is that all of these cases can be linked to travel abroad and we are not seeing any cases pop up in the community that have no linkages at all, such as the ones that you may have heard about in Germany and the United States,” said Dr. Karim Kurji, York Region’s Medical Officer of Health.

“We honestly believe that there is no virus circulating in the community as yet.”

The second case was a 51-year-old woman who returned from Iran to Toronto on Feb. 22. The husband of this woman, a 69-year-old man, also tested positive for COVID-19. He does not have a travel history to Iran. Both visited an Ajax clinic and were tested at Lakeridge Health in Ajax. They are currently both in self-isolation at home, the government said.

“At this time the virus is not circulating locally. However, given the global circumstances, Ontario is actively working with city and health partners to plan for the potential of local spread,” the government said. “The province continues to carefully monitor this situation and encourage residents to stay informed by regularly reviewing credible information sources.”

The government added that the first three cases of the illness in the province have since “been resolved.”  All three of these patients have since tested negative for the virus at least 24 hours apart.

In the case of the 34-year-old female patient, York Region’s health department said Saturday they are seeking individuals who may have been exposed to the virus while the woman was in transit.

Kurji said his team was looking to speak with anyone who travelled business class on flight AC 883, QR 163 and QR 484 on Feb. 26. He said the woman also boarded a GO Bus after arriving at Pearson. He asked anybody who sat on the upper level of GO Bus #40 at around 3:55 p.m. on Feb. 26 to contact health officials.

Anyone who travelled on these flights and was also on this particular GO bus trip is asked to call the York Region Health at 1-800-361-5653, Monday to Sunday between 8:30 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. “for further assessment.”

“I have to emphasize that often when we do this sort of contact tracing, the individuals that we find usually do not develop symptoms,” said Kurji, adding that he still wants people who were on the bus and flights to get in touch to be safe.

“We consider the risk level (in the bus) to be much lower than a plane, there’s more ventilation, the period of travel is much less in time.”

British Columbia Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the eighth case in the province is a woman in her 60s from Tehran, Iran, who travelled to B.C. to visit family and developed symptoms a few days after arriving.

Henry says the woman has a “relatively mild case” of the virus and she is in self-isolation at home, along with a “small number” of close contacts.

She says the public health investigation is ongoing, but the woman was aware of the virus spreading in Iran and she travelled to a clinic while wearing a mask.

Henry said the province is focused on containment and testing, but also has a pandemic stockpile in the province in case the situation worsens.

“Here in B.C. we are still very much in our contain phase,” Henry said, noting that more than a thousand people in B.C. have been tested for the virus, resulting in eight positive test results.

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said B.C. has tested more people than many other jurisdictions, including the entirety of the United States.