One of Ontario’s 23 newly-confirmed cases of COVID-19 is from the London-Middlesex area, public health officials say.
That brings the total number of local novel coronavirus cases to five. In Ontario, there are 206 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19, five resolved cases, and one death.
Details are limited, but provincial health officials said Wednesday that the latest local case involves a woman in her 60s who is now in self-isolation. It’s not clear yet how she contracted the virus.
It comes after two new local cases of COVID-19 were reported on Tuesday.
One case involved a University Hospital health-care worker in her 20s who contracted the virus while on a trip to Las Vegas and went to work while symptomatic. She is now self-isolating for two weeks, health officials said.
“We’re taking our normal, standard process… to check all of the patient contacts, all of the staff contacts, and so forth,” said Neil Johnson, chief operating officer for London Health Sciences Centre, on Wednesday. The infected staff member is reportedly doing well, he said.
Tuesday’s other case involved a woman in her 40s who had travelled to St. Maarten. It remains unclear, though, where she contracted the virus.
“We are still unable to identify a clear association with travel, and as we see cases increase, we become greatly more concerned that community transmission is right around the corner,” said Dr. Alex Summers, associate medical officer of health for London and Middlesex, on Tuesday.
Though health officials wouldn’t provide further information about the case, Global News confirmed earlier in the day that a London courthouse employee was among Tuesday’s two local COVID-19 cases.
The courthouse learned of the diagnosis Monday night, prompting the closure of the building for deep cleaning, according to an internal memo sent to staff and stakeholders. The courthouse was set to reopen on Wednesday, but remained closed Wednesday morning.
Middlesex-London’s first case, reported in late January, involved a Western University student in her 20s who had travelled to Wuhan, China. She was cleared of the virus in mid-February.
The second case, reported earlier this month, involved a woman in her 50s who health officials said was a primary health-care worker, and who had “no history of recent travel to areas that have been significantly affected by the novel coronavirus.” She remains in self-isolation.
The Strathroy Medical Clinic confirmed on Sunday that the patient is an employee there.
With files from 980 CFPL’s Jacquelyn LeBel and Devon Peacock.
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