One coronavirus patient in B.C. has recovered, no new cases
Credit to Author: Tiffany Crawford| Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2020 21:37:50 +0000
Health officials say the first person to be tested positive in B.C. for coronavirus has been given the all clear to leave isolation, while the other four patients appear to be recovering.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, said Wednesday that more than 500 people from across the province have been tested for COVID-19, the name for the illness caused by the coronavirus, but they have no new cases.
The first individual confirmed to have COVID-19 in B.C., a man in his 40s who had travelled to Wuhan, has now recovered, she said, adding that the patient had two negative test results 24 hours apart.
The four remaining B.C. patients with COVID-19 are recovering in isolation at home with support and monitoring from public health teams.
Henry said the risk of transmission of the virus remains “very, very low.”
She said the fifth confirmed case, a woman in her 30s in the B.C. Interior, still has symptoms but appears to be doing well.
She also said the airplane that will carry Canadian passengers later this week from the cruise ship quarantined in Japan will go to the Canadian Forces Base at Trenton, Ont., and will not stop in Vancouver.
The Canadians who were evacuated from Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, will soon end a 14-day quarantine in Trenton. Henry said about one-third of those are from British Columbia, and she hopes they will be welcomed home without fear.
On Wednesday, the death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 2,000 people in China, with more than 75,000 people infected, according to Chinese officials.
Paul Mirko of Richmond is quarantined aboard the Diamond Princess in Yokohama Japan due to a coronavirus outbreak on the cruise ship.
Meantime, a Richmond couple — still confined in their room aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan despite a 14-day quarantine ending and passengers disembarking — said they still don’t know when the Canadian government will send a plane to bring them home.
Paul Mirko said Wednesday his emails to the Canadian embassy have not been returned, and they can’t seem to get any answers about why the quarantine on the ship is not working. He said they were told they’d be leaving Thursday but now they are hearing it won’t be until Friday.
“Sadly it was only a tweet by our minister of foreign affairs that the aircraft had had trouble leaving Europe due to mechanical problems that gave us any information,” he said in an email to Postmedia.
There are 256 Canadians on the Diamond Princess cruise ship. Of those, at least 43 Canadians have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Global Affairs Canada. More than 600 people on the ship tested positive for the virus.
“So we are hoping for Friday (to leave) at least. A reminder that we are as confined as any prisoner. The Japanese have started releasing their passengers who tested negative to walk off and go home,” he said, adding that Canada has “dropped the ball” on rescuing the trapped Canadian passengers.
Barbara Harvey, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, said Wednesday that a chartered aircraft to repatriate Canadians on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship is en route to Japan from Canada.
The flight is expected to depart Tokyo Haneda Airport on Thursday, she said.
The aircraft will bring passengers from Japan to CFB Trenton, after which passengers will be assessed and transported to the NAV Canada Training Institute in Cornwall, Ont., to undergo another 14-day period of quarantine.
Canadian citizens and permanent residents are eligible for this flight. Non-Canadian immediate family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents will also be allowed in order to avoid separating families, space permitting, Harvey said.
With files from Scott Brown and Lora Grindlay
CLICK HERE to report a typo.
Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.