VANCOUVER -- B.C.'s provincial health officer has officially confirmed the first case of novel coronavirus in the province.
The case was considered "presumptive" when it was first announced by health officials on Tuesday as official confirmation needed to be done by a second test at the National Medical Laboratory in Winnipeg. In a statement released on Wednesday evening, the Ministry of Health said that later test confirmed the province is, in fact, dealing with its first confirmed case.
"The risk of spread of this virus within British Columbia remains low at this time," Dr. Bonnie Henry said in a statement. "All necessary precautions are being taken to prevent the spread of infection. We have multiple systems in place to prepare for, detect and respond to prevent the spread of serious infectious diseases in the province."
Officials said they are in regular contact with the infected person, who remains in isolation at home. The 40-year-old patient is a man who regularly travels to China and was in Wuhan city on his last trip, according to officials. He lives in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and started showing symptoms more than 24 hours after arriving home last week.
Henry said the patient did not need hospitalization and was not symptomatic on his flight back to Canada. There is no evidence that the virus spreads when a person is asymptomatic, Henry said in a news conference on Tuesday.
"That's reassuring to us and that's certainly in line with other coronavirus infections that we've seen in the past like SARS and MERS," Henry said.
The news of the confirmed case comes as some airlines have suspended flights to China. On Wednesday, Air Canada announced it would be suspending all of its direct flights to Shanghai and Beijing until the end of February.
