Ontario has confirmed three new positive cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the province to 11.
Ontario has confirmed three new positive cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the province to 11.
The new cases involve a woman, 34, in York Region, and another woman, 51, and her husband, 69, in Durham region. Both women had just returned from Iran.
York Region public health officials have begun a search for anyone who might have come in contact with one of the cases, either in the air or on a GO bus to Richmond Hill.
As of Saturday, there were 20 confirmed coronavirus cases in Canada. The number includes eight in B.C. and one in Quebec. There have been no deaths.
Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, said in a news release on Saturday that the first three cases of coronavirus found in Ontario have been resolved, with each of those patients having had two consecutive negative tests at least 24 hours apart.
Of the cases announced on Saturday, the 34-year-old woman “with a travel history to Iran” went to Mackenzie Health, a Richmond Hill, Ont., hospital, on Thursday. York Region Public Health had contacted the hospital and arranged a time for the woman to go to its emergency department.
She was wearing a mask when she arrived at the hospital.
Patients now in self-isolation
Williams said the woman arrived at the hospital with a dry cough, runny nose, shortness of breath and headache and was put on “airborne/droplet/contact” precautions.
“Due to the low severity of symptoms and the condition of the patient, the patient was not admitted to hospital. The patient is in self-isolation, per protocols, where she remains,” Williams said in a news release on Saturday.
In the second case announced on Saturday, the 51-year-old woman returned from Iran on Feb. 22 and went to an Ajax clinic on Friday with a cough, body aches and chills. She was masked and isolated.
Durham Region Health Department contacted Lakeridge Health Ajax Pickering hospital and arranged for a time for the woman to arrive.
She arrived at the hospital wearing a mask and was tested for the virus. She was discharged from the hospital, sent home and went into self-isolation, where she remains.
Her 69-year-old husband, meanwhile, also tested positive for the virus on Friday. He had a cough, but did not go to Iran. He accompanied his wife to the Ajax clinic and Lakeridge Health Ajax Pickering, where he was given a mask and isolated. He was tested for the virus, discharged and sent home.
He has also been put in self-isolation, where he remains.
Ontario preparing for ‘potential of local spread’
Williams said the Ontario government is carefully monitoring the situation and encourages resi