More coronavirus cases likely in Canada, but risk of infection is low: officials

By The Canadian Press

Officials anticipate that the sole Canadian patient diagnosed with the new coronavirus won’t be the last, but say the risk of infection in this country remains low.

Public health officials made the comment at a news conference yesterday, when they announced that the man in his 50s had been showing mild symptoms on his flight from Guangzhou, China, to Toronto.

They’ve since been reaching out to those aboard the China Southern Airlines flight who sat within two metres of the man.

Canada’s chief public health officer says she believes there will be more cases “imported into Canada” because of global flight patterns, but she notes there’s little risk of becoming infected here.

Dr. Theresa Tam also says she expects to receive official confirmation today from Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Lab that the man’s illness is indeed the new coronavirus.

The diagnosis is “presumptive” until that lab finds the same positive results as the tests conducted in Toronto.

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