2 new presumptive cases of COVID-19 in Alberta

Alta. virus cases all travel related: officials Three of four cases of COVID-19 in Alberta are connected to the Grand Princess Cruise, provincial health officials said in an update Sunday.

EDMONTON — Alberta has two new presumptive cases of COVID-19.

The two new cases were announced Sunday morning, bringing the total in the province to four presumptive cases.

The third presumed case, a man in his 60s who lives in the Edmonton area, had recently been on a Grand Princess cruise before returning to the province on Feb. 21.

The fourth presumed case, a woman in her 30s who lives in the Calgary area, was in close contact with someone who had recently travelled in Europe and the Middle East. That person made visits to Ukraine, Turkey and the Netherlands.

Both individuals are recovering in isolation at home with support from public health officials.

The province’s chief medical officer of health, Deena Hinshaw, says close contacts of these people are being identified and asked to self-isolate for 14 days.

Hinshaw added that nearly 300 Albertans were tested Saturday alone for COVID-19.

“Clearly Albertans are taking our message to heart, and wanting to get access to testing if they are worried of having travelled and having symptoms."

There were 44 Albertans who left the Grand Princess cruise ship on Feb. 21, with officials working over the weekend to track those people down.

"As of now the majority of those have not displayed any symptoms at all. A small minority had symptoms, most of those tests were negative," said Hinshaw.

On Thursday, Alberta had its first presumptive case of COVID-19, a woman in her 50s from the Calgary area.

The province announced its second presumptive COVID-19 case on Friday, after a man in the Edmonton region tested positive after visiting the United States.

There were at least 59 confirmed cases of COVID-19  in Canada as of Sunday.

With files from The Canadian Press