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Quebec's first case of coronavirus has been confirmed
Editor's note: This story has been updated with news that the COVID-19 case is now confirmed.
Quebec's first case of coronavirus has been confirmed in a woman who recently returned from a trip to Iran.
Quebec public health authorities announced Friday evening that the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg has confirmed the case has tested positive.
The COVID-19 case was considered "presumptive" on Thursday evening when Health Minister Danielle McCann first announced the news. A diagnosis is considered presumptive until results come back from the Winnipeg lab.
The woman took a plane from Iran to Qatar before arriving at the Montreal airport on Monday,
She immediately went to an outpatient clinic in the Montreal region with minor symptoms and was quickly given a mask upon entering, McCann said Thursday.
The patient was then put in isolation at a nearby hospital where the proper infection-control measures were "very well implemented," McCann said.
Health workers had no significant risk of exposure, said McCann, who declined to specify exactly where the medical facilities are located.
She said medical professionals are confident the patient had "limited contact" with others and that the infection-control methods were effective. However, health officials are still investigating who the patient may have come into contact with at the clinic and is monitoring everybody involved for signs of the virus.
"The detection of this case shows that our system is efficient, it is reliable and that the management protocol is well established," the minister said.
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In Japan a female tour bus guide tested positive for a second time.
At least 650 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Italy.
No country should make the “fatal mistake” of assuming it will be spared of the coronavirus, the World Health Organization warned Thursday, as governments across the world initiate emergency protocols to contain the epidemic’s rapid spread.
Death Toll from Coronavirus Rises to 26 in Iran
The comments come as new infections reported around the world are now surpassing those in mainland China, whose numbers are on the decline after an aggressive containment campaign.
Chinese authorities said the number of new deaths stood at 29 on Thursday, its lowest daily tally since Jan. 28. There were just 433 new cases in mainland China over the previous day, compared to 586 in nations and territories elsewhere.
As of Thursday, there are more than 82,000 cases around the world, including 2,808 deaths. The vast majority of these are in mainland China, which has reported 78,497 cases and 2,744 deaths.
According to WHO Chief, countries like Iran, Italy and South Korea at a “decisive point”, still short of sustained community transmission.
At least 650 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Italy, officials said. While there are now more than 1,700 cases in South Korea.
In Japan, where cases rose to 200, there was particular concern after a female tour bus guide tested positive for a second time - one of very few worldwide to do so.
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California confirms first possible 'community transmission' of coronavirus as China reports fewest new fatalities in a month
California health officials have detected what may be the first local transmission of the deadly COVID-19 virus in the US – with no known ties to other confirmed cases – as China reported the lowest number of new deaths in weeks.
Adding 29 fatalities to the nearly 2,800 already killed by the lethal pathogen, the latest figures from Chinese authorities mark a sharp decline in daily deaths, even as fears of the illness peak in the US, where the first suspected “community transmission” was reported late on Wednesday.
“The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] today confirmed a possible first case of person-to-person transmission of COVID-19 in California in the general public,” the California Department of Public Health said in a statement.
The individual had no known exposure
to the virus through travel
or close contact with a known infected individual.
Two other American patients who had been confirmed to have contracted the virus while in the US both came in contact with individuals who had recently visited China – where the outbreak was first observed – or those already known to have the virus, according to the CDC. The newest case in California, an individual from Solano County, has had no such close contacts.
The patient, who has yet to be identified, is now receiving treatment at a facility in Sacramento.
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Global Covid-19 death toll at 2,814, Iran and Italy numbers rising
Mainland China had 327 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Thursday, the country’s National Health Commission said on Friday, down from 433 cases a day earlier.
That brings the total accumulated number of confirmed cases in mainland China so far to 78,824.
The death toll from the outbreak in mainland China reached 2,788 as of the end of Thursday, up by 44 from the previous day.
The central province of Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 41 new deaths, while in the provincial capital of Wuhan, 28 people died.
Meanwhile globally the death toll stood at 2,814, with 2,744 coming from mainland China, 26 in Iran, 17 in Italy and 13 in South Korea with a number of other countries also reporting fatalities.
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