Ontario’s chief medical officer of health says the London woman who was the province’s third case of COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, is no longer infected.
On Jan. 31, health officials reported that a woman in her 20s had returned from Wuhan, China, the epicentre of the viral outbreak. The woman was at first asymptomatic when she arrived on Jan. 23, officials said, however she began to exhibit symptoms of the illness the next day and went to the hospital.
Officials added that the woman had had limited exposure to other people since returning from China and had since been in isolation, except for time spent in the hospital.
Dr. David Williams confirmed Wednesday morning that the woman’s case is now resolved.
“Additional testing has been conducted by both the Public Health Ontario Laboratory and the National Microbiology Lab (Winnipeg),” Williams said. “The case has had two negative tests at least 24 hours apart and is therefore considered to be resolved.”
“This means the individual is no longer infectious with the 2019 novel coronavirus.”
Williams added that the risk of contracting COVID-19, which was named by the World Health Organization on Tuesday, still remains low in the province.
“I’d like to thank our partners across the health-care system for their continued efforts in containing the virus and protecting the health and well-being of individuals and families across the province,” he said.
As of Wednesday, the total number of worldwide deaths reported for the disease is more than 1,100, and the total number of cases reported in mainland China has reached 44,653.