seasonal flu far outpaces coronavirus in ontario
eight cases are under investigation but none are deemed likely to test positive for the coronavirus.
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dr. david williams addresses the media about coronavirus in ontario on monday, feb. 10, 2020.
antonella artuso
/
toronto sun
by antonella artusoontario has had hundreds of serious flu cases for every one confirmed case of coronavirus, public health officials say.dr. david williams, ontario’s chief medical officer of health, said the number of confirmed cases in this province of the new virus that emerged out of hubei province in china remains three — a women in her 20s from london and a husband and wife from toronto. all are recovering in self-isolation.eight cases are under investigation but none are deemed likely to test positive for the coronavirus.“a few weeks ago we had 1,500 cases of influenza reported in ontario and 960 a week ago,” williams said. “so it certainly is much larger with influenza.”dr. barbara yaffe, associate chief medical officer of health, said the data emerging out of china suggests that the number of new coronavirus cases is stabilizing, but the lesson of sars requires officials stay vigilant and to continue communicating with the public about the risk for the foreseeable future.“i think there’s a lot of anxiety still out there and i think people are still asking questions,” yaffe said.the latest provincial figures show there remain three confirmed positive cases, no presumptive positive cases, eight cases under investigation, 81 presumptive negative cases, and 167 confirmed negative cases.the two criteria for investigation are symptoms and travel to hubei province, or contact with a confirmed case.aartuso@postmedia.com
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