Ontario reports 3 new cases of COVID-19, including U.S. travellers

Ontario health officials announced three additional cases of COVID-19 in Toronto on Sunday, bringing the province’s total up to 31.

One of the patients is a woman in her 60s who had recently travelled to France, a statement from the Ministry of Health said. She went to Scarborough General Hospital’s emergency department on Saturday.

The second patient, a man in his 60s, had visited Washington, D.C., earlier this month. He was seen at North York General Hospital’s emergency department.

Earlier on Sunday, officials confirmed a case involves a woman in her 40s who returned from Colorado on March 2 and went to Sunnybrook hospital in Toronto.

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The three patients are at home in self-isolation. Toronto Public Health is “actively engaged in contact tracing and case management.”

Ontario’s Ministry of Health said the hospitals took “all necessary precautions and followed standard operating procedures, including testing and assessment.”

The Ministry of Health said COVID-19 is not circulating locally in Ontario and the risk to residents remains low, but “given the global circumstances,” they are planning for the possibility of local spread.

Of the province’s 31 confirmed cases, four have been resolved.

Late Sunday night, Peel Public Health reported its third positive case: a man in his 50s who had returned from Germany on Saturday March 7.

But a spokesperson for the health agency was unable to say whether this case is one of the 31 already confirmed in Ontario, or a new case entirely.

In a statement, the health agency said the man was assessed at Brampton Civic Hospital before being discharged to self-isolate at home. The agency is investigating and will contact anyone who may have been in close contact with the man.

“The risk to Peel citizens is still low,” Peel Region’s medical officer of health Dr. Jessica Hopkins said in the statement.

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Meanwhile, the Canadian government recently posted on its travel advice website that the United States is experiencing “limited community spread” of COVID-19 in some areas, though it did not list Colorado as one of the affected regions.

On Friday, a man in his 40s who recently travelled to Las Vegas was confirmed as having the first case of COVID-19 relating to U.S. travel in Ontario.