First presumptive case of COVID-19 reported in Interior Health region

VICTORIA — British Columbia has identified a fifth presumptive case of COVID-19.

B.C. Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the patient is a woman in her 30s who lives in the Interior Health Region. She recently travelled in the Shanghai area.

“She was not in Hubei province and was not in an area where travel was restricted,” Henry said.

“She came home from Shanghai through YVR and then travelled by private vehicle to her home in the interior.”

Henry said the woman has self-isolated at home, as have her close contacts. She was tested on Feb. 11, and the lab returned a positive result on Thursday. That sample still needs to be confirmed by the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg.

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“Her symptoms started, we think, around her time of arrival,” said Henry. “We’re still working out the details and looking at the flights and if we need to contact people on those flights.”

Henry said the woman was wearing a mask for the entire flight and that the risk was low, but that health officials are still working to contact everyone who sat within three rows of her, and would be speaking with them about what to do if they did show symptoms.

Henry has committed to providing weekly Tuesday updates in person and data updates on the B.C. Centre for Disease Control website on Friday mornings.

The agency says more than 500 people have been tested for the virus, with five people testing positive.

Henry said Friday that the first man to rest positive for COVID-19, a man in his 50s who lives in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, is recovering and has returned a single negative test.

As of Friday, mainland China has confirmed nearly 64,000 total cases, with a death toll of 1,380.