Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw. (Government of Alberta)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

ONE CASE CONFIRMED, MORE "LIKELY"

Third and fourth presumptive cases of COVID-19 identified in Alberta

Mar 8, 2020 | 11:27 AM

The province of Alberta has announced its third and fourth presumptive cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

One case is a male in his sixties who lives in the Edmonton Zone of Alberta Health Services. The other, a woman in her thirties, lives in the Calgary Zone.

Both cases are travel-related and each person is recovering in isolation at their home with support from public health officials.

“I want Albertans to understand that our public health measures are doing precisely what they were intended to do: detect new cases and take immediate action,” says Deena Hinshaw, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, on Sunday morning.

“These individuals have been isolated and actions are being taken to prevent the infection from spreading. Given the global spread of COVID-19, it is likely that new cases will continue to be detected in the days ahead. While the current risk of exposure to the virus remains low in Alberta, this may change in the coming weeks.”

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Hinshaw said in a press conference that health officials tested 299 people in Alberta just on Saturday, with just the two new presumptive cases. She also mentioned that one of the two previously announced presumptive cases is now confirmed to be COVID-19.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro adds that the health system is taking every measure to respond to COVID-19.

“This is a very fast moving, constantly changing situation, but Alberta is working closely with the rest of Canada to protect the public health,” he says. “I want to express my deep appreciation for the many health-care providers who are mobilizing to address the risks of COVID-19.”

The man from Edmonton Zone is said to have recently been on a Grand Princess Cruise before returning to Alberta on Feb. 21.

The woman in Calgary Zone is a close contact of someone who recently travelled to Europe, including visits to Ukraine, Turkey and the Netherlands.

Close contacts of these people are being identified and asked to self-isolate for 14 days.

On Friday, the province announced the second presumptive case of COVID-19 in Alberta — a man in his forties from the Edmonton Zone. Alberta’s first case was announced Thursday and involves a woman in her 50s who lives in Calgary Zone.

Meantime, two central Albertans, Lolita and Hans Wiesner, were released from the NAV Centre in Cornwall, Ontario on Friday. They had been there for two weeks in quarantine with 127 other Canadians after travelling on a Japanese Cruise Ship last month.

“We’re heading home. We haven’t completely given up on our holiday to Europe, but we’ll see what the news brings on COVID-19 in the next week,” Lolita tells rdnewsNOW. “I’m looking forward to going back to normal life, and life without a mask.”

All returning travellers are being asked to monitor their health and, if they experience symptoms, to immediately self-isolate and call Health Link 811. This applies only to returning travellers who are symptomatic with fever, or cough.

All Albertans are encouraged to visit alberta.ca/COVID19 for guidance around prevention, testing and other useful information.