VANCOUVER -- New numbers show hundreds of British Columbians have been tested for the novel coronavirus, and only four are either confirmed or presumed to be infected.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control shared an updated on the province's coronavirus response early Friday morning, revealing that 318 samples taken from 210 people had been tested as of Wednesday.
Some people had to be tested more than once, according to health officials.
The numbers represent a significant jump from last Friday, when just 114 samples had been tested, but there are still only two people confirmed to be carrying the virus and two others who are presumed positive.
Health officials use "presumed positive" to refer to patients who have tested positive for coronavirus locally, but whose diagnoses have not been confirmed at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg.
All of B.C.'s coronavirus patients are staying at home in isolation in the Vancouver Coastal Health region that includes Richmond, Vancouver and the North Shore.
Three of them are staying at the same property, including a man and woman in their 30s who are visiting from China's Hubei province.
The fourth patient is a man in his 40s who recently travelled to Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei that's at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak. Officials said he only fell ill after returning home.
Officials said the patients' "close contacts" are also staying in isolation.
So far, there are only seven confirmed or presumptive coronavirus infections across Canada, and both local and federal health officials have said the risk of the virus spreading remains low.
The B.C. government has asked anyone who believes they may have been infected to call a doctor and self-isolate for two weeks.
Internationally, there have been 31,424 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 638 deaths.
