Manitoba Health officials say the likelihood of catching coronavirus remains low in Manitoba.
In a bulletin sent to media Friday — a day after the World Health Organization declared the respiratory virus a global emergency — health officials in Manitoba said the province has yet to see a confirmed case of coronavirus.
As of Thursday the province says three people have been tested for the disease, all with negative results.
Manitoba’s update comes as a third positive case was reported in Ontario Friday, bringing Canada’s total number of cases to four.
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health said the latest case is a woman in her 20s in London, Ont., who travelled to the affected area in China.
Initial testing in Ontario showed the woman was negative for the virus, but tests at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg came back as “weakly” positive.
Officials say the woman had no symptoms when she returned to Canada, that she only left her home to go to hospital, and staff there wore protective gear.
Earlier Friday, a Toronto hospital discharged the man who had been diagnosed as Canada’s first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus.
The virus responsible for the recent outbreak, a new strain of coronavirus, has created alarm because much about it is still unknown, including how dangerous it is and how easily it spreads between people.
As of Friday, China counted 9,692 confirmed cases with a death toll of 213. The vast majority have been in Hubei province and its capital, Wuhan, where the first illnesses were detected in December.
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No deaths have been reported outside China.
Manitoba Health says anyone with recent travel to the Chinese province of Hubei, including the city of Wuhan, or who has had contact with a recent traveller who currently has symptoms such as a cough, fever, sore throat, runny nose, headache, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties should contact their health-care provider or Health Links at 1-888-315-9257.
The province isn’t recommending the use of masks in public at this time and says there is no evidence wearing masks significantly reduces the risk of getting the virus.
–With files from The Canadian Press
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