TORONTO -- All of the Canadian passengers and their families who were recently evacuated from Wuhan, China to a military base in Ontario for two weeks of quarantine are currently healthy with none of them exhibiting symptoms of novel coronavirus.
That’s according to Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam who said the evacuees residing at Canadian Forces Base Trenton in eastern Ontario are all on track to leave the base after the 14-day quarantine period should their condition not change.
This means the more than 200 passengers who arrived at the base on a Canadian-chartered plane and a second American flight on Feb. 7 will be able to go home on Feb. 21 as planned. The second group of 185 evacuees who landed at CFB Trenton on Feb. 11 will be able to leave on Feb. 25, if they remain healthy.
The passengers have been living in isolation in hotel-like accommodations on the military base so that public health officials can monitor them for any signs they contracted the novel coronavirus, now known as COVID-19, which originated in the city of Wuhan.
During their stay at the base, evacuees have been closely monitored by government health officials who conduct daily checks for respiratory illness.
As of Saturday, Tam said there have been eight confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus in Canada – two in Ontario and five in British Columbia. She said none of the eight people with the illness require hospitalization and the latest one is currently in home isolation in B.C.
Despite the new case, Tam said the risk of contracting the virus in Canada remains low.
Globally, there have been more than 67,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the vast majority of which are in mainland China. The virus has also resulted in the deaths of more than 1,500 people so far.
