Ontario’s third confirmed case of the 2019 novel coronavirus has now been resolved, while the number of people remaining under investigation for possible infection fell by more than half on Wednesday.
On Jan. 31, the province reported a confirmed case involving a patient in London, Ont. The patient, identified as a female university student in her 20s, has been in self-isolation at home since her return from Wuhan, China on Jan. 23.
“Additional testing has been conducted by both the Public Health Ontario Laboratory and the National Microbiology Lab (Winnipeg). The case has had two negative tests at least 24 hours apart and is therefore considered to be resolved," Dr. David Williams, the province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, confirmed in a written statement sent out Wednesday.
“This means the individual is no longer infectious with the 2019 novel coronavirus.”
There are nine people still under investigation for possible infection, down from 19 on Tuesday.
A further 44 people are considered “presumptive negative” for coronavirus infection, as their specimens tested negative at the Public Health Ontario lab in Toronto but will be double confirmed by the federal lab in Winnipeg.
There are currently two other cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus in Ontario, a Toronto couple in their 50s. They are currently in self-isolation at home.
A total of 313 people have been tested in Ontario so far, with three people diagnosed with the virus.
Four people were diagnosed with the virus in British Columbia.
The virus has infected 43,000 people in China and hundreds of others in other parts of the world. As of Wednesday, the death toll has surpassed 1,100.
The continued spread of infection in mainland China has prompted federal and provincial officials to order anyone returning from the Hubei province of China to enter into self-isolation at home for 14 days.
Anyone else returning from other regions of China to Canada has been asked to self-monitor and contact a local public health unit if they display respiratory or other coronavirus symptoms.
