Provincial health officials say a Londoner who recently travelled to China has tested positive for novel coronavirus.
Dr. David Williams, chief medical officer of health for Ontario, made the announcement at a news conference on Friday afternoon. The Londoner is the third confirmed case in Ontario and the fourth in Canada.
The case involves a female student at Western University who travelled to China. According to Dr. Chris Mackie, CEO and medical officer of health at the Middlesex London Health Unit, the woman in her 20s wore a mask for her entire trip from Wuhan, China back to London. When she returned to Canada on January 23, she was not symptomatic. However, she developed symptoms the next day and was assessed at the London Health Sciences Centre.
Medical officials said because the woman was wearing a mask and not suffering from any symptoms, she did not pose a risk to the other passengers on her flight.
"You have a case here where both the system worked well and you had a patient who went above and beyond to protect the public and the people she was in contact with," Dr. Mackie said. "Because of her awareness of the risks associated with travel to Wuhan, she went straight into isolation in her home when she returned home. The only time she's been out of her home since then is to [go to] the hospital for testing."
Fortunately, the woman's symptoms were mild and she recovered within three days.
“LHSC’s Emergency Department team took the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of other patients, visitors, staff and physicians,” said Dr. Michael Payne, medical director, infection prevention and control, LHSC. “Our highly skilled medical staff were ready for the presentation of coronavirus and demonstrated the effectiveness of our precautions, practices, and protocols.”
According to Dr. Mackie, the student has not been on campus since returning to Canada, and the risk to the community is extremely low.
"There was so little virus in here sputum sample that her initial lab results were negative," Mackie said in a tweet on Friday afternoon.
Mackie said the woman stayed in isolation even after the initial negative lab results. She is still in isolation, despite her recovery.
A Western student is confirmed to have Novel Coronavirus. The student took great care in terms of self-isolation and treatment, and has not been on campus since returning from China. @mlhealthunit has confirmed there is very low risk to campus community. https://t.co/4rAEGxYC4h
— Western University (@WesternU) January 31, 2020
This week, it was announced that a Toronto area man who was the first confirmed case was released from hospital and is recovering alongside his wife, who was the province's second case. Health officials had said that the man in his 50s had also recently travelled to China.