B.C. announced its 13th case of coronavirus (COVID-19) as being a woman in her 80s who is in critical condition.
The woman, who recently returned from India and Hong Kong, is in isolation in Vancouver General Hospital (VGH).
"She has severe illness and is isolation at [VGH]," said Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.'s top medical health officer at a news conference this afternoon (March 4).
"The hospital has been preparing for this and everybody in (there) and workers are safe and being protected."
Henry says the woman came back middle of last week and was not ill during travel. Became ill a couple of days after returning. They've been in touch with people in close contact. Four of the 13 cases in B.C. have fully recovered to date. #COVD19 #coronavirus #bc #canada
— jess fedigan (@jj_fedigan) March 5, 2020
Yesterday (March 3), there were four new cases of coronavirus in B.C., taking the total on Tuesday night to 12.
Three of the Tuesday cases reside in the Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) region, which includes Richmond, and have recently returned from Iran.
Henry made an announcement Tuesday afternoon, just a few hours after revealing a ninth case the same morning.
The 10th case was a man in his 60s, who just travelled back from Iran and is now in isolation in the VCH region.
A small number of close contacts of the man are also in isolation
The 11th case was an adult woman, said Henry, who added there is limited information about her at the moment.
She is also in isolation and also recently travelled back from Iran and is in VCH region.
The 10th and 11th cases have no connection to any previous confirmed coronavirus patients.
The 12th case was a woman in her 30s and is a household contact of case number eight, which was announced Saturday as being a woman in her 60s, who is visiting from Iran.
By Wednesday, Iran had reported 2,922 cases of the disease — up 586 from Tuesday — and 92 deaths, which is up 15 from Tuesday.
However, the country’s reporting of coronavirus (COVID-19) has been widely criticized, with some people suggesting the spread was kept quiet to avoid voters swerving the national elections.
Health officials said this week Canadians should avoid all non-essential travel to Iran, as well as China and northern Italy, and people returning from those countries to Canada should contact health authorities and self-isolate in their homes for 14 days – even if they have no symptoms of illness –to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
By Wednesday, COVID-19 had infected 95,079 people around the world and killed 3,249, mostly in China, where the virus originated late last year.
More than 51,000 of the confirmed cases have fully recovered from the disease.
The majority of the current cases in B.C. now have connections to Iran, as opposed to China, where the virus first surfaced late last year.A ninth case of coronavirus was announced in B.C. on Tuesday morning.
