Canada’s chief medical officer said on Sunday that an individual who was declared the country’s first “presumptive” confirmed case of the novel coronavirus had developed symptoms on the plane while traveling from Wuhan in China to Toronto.
The province of Ontario health officials on Saturday said a man in his 50s developed a respiratory illness after arriving in Toronto on Jan. 22 from Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak of the viral disease, and was being treated in a public hospital and in isolation.
Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief health officer, told reporters in Ottawa that the patient had mild symptoms while on the flight, though he did not report his condition after landing at the Toronto airport.
The individual arrived via China Southern Airlines flight CZ311 from Guangzhou to Toronto. Tam said health officials are in the early process of contacting other travelers on that flight.
But Tam said other people on the flight or airport that were not close to the patient should not be overly concerned.
Canada’s Health Minister Patty Hajdu told reporters that the National Microbiology Laboratory will take up to 24 hours to confirm the findings on the local laboratory. And once NML tests are confirmed positive, then Canada will announce its first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus.
