UPDATE: On Jan. 30, Ottawa Public Health said the patient in Ottawa who was tested for the new coronavirus this week does not have the virus; the test result was negative. “Currently, OPH is not aware of any confirmed or presumptive cases of novel coronavirus in Ottawa,” the public health agency said on Thursday.
One person in Ottawa is being tested for the new coronavirus, the city’s public health agency has confirmed.
In a brief statement on Tuesday afternoon, a spokesperson for Ottawa Public Health said the agency knows of one person who has sought testing, but emphasized there are no confirmed cases of the virus in the national capital at this time.
“To protect personal health information, Ottawa Public Health cannot disclose any more information about the individual being tested for novel coronavirus,” the statement said.
“Ottawa Public Health will provide more information if we receive notification of a lab-confirmed case.”
More than 100 people have been killed by the new coronavirus, officially known as 2019-nCoV, and at least 4,500 have been infected in China.
News that a coronavirus test has been administered in Ottawa comes as more health officials across Canada are reporting that tests have been issued in other provinces and, in a few cases, confirming presumptive or confirmed infections.
On Tuesday, health officials in British Columbia confirmed the province’s first “presumptive” case of the new coronavirus, while a second case of the virus was officially confirmed in Toronto.
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Tests have also been administered in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec.
The coronavirus is believed to have originated at a seafood market in the city of Wuhan, located in central China.
Symptoms of infection, according to Ottawa Public Health’s novel coronavirus webpage, include fever, cough and respiratory symptoms like shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
The public health unit says travellers returning from areas in China affected by the virus should monitor themselves for symptoms of respiratory illness for the next 14 days.
People who fall into that category who have developed mild symptoms are encouraged to contact Ottawa Public Health or their health care provider.
If anyone in that group develops severe symptoms, they should go to a hospital emergency department, according to the agency’s webpage.
In the event a test for the new coronavirus is administered, the results can be turned around within 24 hours, Ottawa’s medical officer of health said on Friday.
In suspected cases, public health officials would “immediately” start working to identify any people who have been in “close physical proximity” to someone who may be infected, Dr. Vera Etches said.
Ottawa — and Canada in general — is a “low-risk setting” for the virus,” Etches said.
“I don’t see a greater risk of transmission of novel coronavirus in Ottawa,” she said.
-With a file from The Canadian Press