Manitoba’s chief public health officer Dr Brent Roussin says that his office is monitoring the Novel Coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China.
Roussin says that at this point it appears like the risk is low in Manitoba but there are other jurisdictions in Canada that are actively monitoring several people who are ill.
Manitoba has plans in place to deal with infectious outbreaks. Healthcare providers in the province have begun to ask people presenting with respiratory infection symptoms about recent travel to China.
The virus has already claimed 17 lives and more than 517 people have contracted it. Currently, there is one confirmed case of coronavirus in the United States. In Canada, five people in Quebec and one in Vancouver are being monitored but so far none of the cases are confirmed to be the virus.
According to the World Health Organization, the coronavirus is a large family of viruses that include the common cold as well as the more severe Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). This Novel Coronavirus is a new strain never before seen in humans.
Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death.
© News4.ca 2020
