A patient who arrived from West Africa 10 days ago and had Ebola-like symptoms has been transferred from a hospital in Barrie, Ont. to Ontario’s designated Ebola response centre at Sunnybrook Health Centre in Toronto.
The Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre in Barrie said it had transferred a patient who had returned from West Africa 10 days ago after briefly treating and confining the patient in a decontamination unit.
The Barrie hospital said the patient arrived at the hospital late Saturday morning by ambulance with symptoms that promoted health care workers to begin Ebola protocols. The patient was taken directly from the ambulance to the hospital’s decontamination unit and was then cared for in a negative pressure trauma room, dedicated to suspected Ebola cases. The hospital said in a news release that at all times health care workers were wearing full protective equipment and the patient did not have any contact with other patients or unprotected staff at any time.
WATCH NOW: Update on fight against Ebola in West Africa
The Barrie hospital emphasized that they believe the chance of Ebola is low and they were acting out of caution.
Barrie is 80 kilometres north of Toronto.
It typically takes six hours to receive results from an Ebola test while further tests can take an additional 2-3 days for results.
Sunnybrook Health Centre has been designated an Ebola response centre and has sophisticated infection control systems and procedures in place designed to limit the spread of infection. Last month a patient who had travelled to West Africa and had flu-like symptoms for five days was admitted to Sunnybrook from another Toronto hospital. However, tests on the patient proved negative.
There has never been a confirmed Ebola case in Canada, although 16 people have been tested as a precaution since the massive outbreak in West Africa that is blamed for more than 10, 000 deaths.
WATCH NOW: British army reservist successfully treated for Ebola with experimental drug
Comments