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Canadian hospitals are on high alert for the illness, and airports in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal have introduced new signage and screening aimed at travellers returning from China – some travellers seen here on Jan. 24, 2020 at Vancouver International Airport.JENNIFER GAUTHIER/Reuters

There are no confirmed cases of the SARS-like coronavirus in the country yet, but Canadian health officials say they will continue to test individuals with symptoms and screen travellers at international airports.

At a media briefing on Friday, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health said that, unlike SARS, when China tried to conceal the extent of the outbreak, hampering the global response, Canada is prepared in the likely event that the coronavirus comes to this country.

“We still haven’t seen a case but my guess is we will, it’s just a matter of where and when,” David Williams said. “The machinery is in place and it’s working light years ahead of what we faced back in 2003.”

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Several provinces have been testing patients who meet the proper criteria, but so far, all tests have been negative. Quebec health officials said on Friday that a patient who had been under observation in that province tested negative for the coronavirus, bringing the total number of patients who have been cleared there to five. Ontario said it is currently testing nine people. A spokesman for the province said many of the coronavirus symptoms are similar to those of seasonal influenza, but patients will be tested out of an abundance of caution.

Tom McMillan, spokesman for Alberta Health, said the province is testing people for the illness, even if it’s unlikely that they have it, based on their personal and travel history.

Around the world, nearly 1,300 people have been infected with the new coronavirus, being referred to as 2019-nCoV. So far, 41 people have died, all in China. Although the vast majority of cases are in China, a handful are appearing in other countries.

On Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that a second person had been infected with 2019-nCoV. The Chicago-area patient, a woman in her 60s, had recently returned from Wuhan, the epicentre of the disease in China, and is doing well in a hospital isolation room. Earlier this week, U.S. officials said a man in Washington state also tested positive for the virus after returning from Wuhan. He has since recovered.

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A traveller wears a mask, after stepping off a direct flight from China, as Canada's Public Health Agency added a screening question for visitors at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada January 24, 2020.JENNIFER GAUTHIER/Reuters

Canadian hospitals are on high alert for the illness, and airports in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal have introduced new signage and screening aimed at travellers returning from China. Electronic kiosks will ask travellers whether they have travelled to Wuhan in the previous two weeks. Anyone who has will be asked to speak to a border-services agent, who will ask additional questions about their health and, if necessary, provide them with transportation to a local hospital.

But the incubation period, or time it takes for patients to become symptomatic, could be as long as two weeks.

For that reason, health officials are urging recent travellers to China to monitor themselves for symptoms and call their health-care provider if they develop a fever, cough, shortness of breath or other symptoms linked to 2019-nCoV.

Earlier this week, the World Health Organization ruled against declaring a public health emergency of international concern in regards to 2019-nCov. But the WHO said it will reconvene a meeting with its international counterparts in the coming days and reassess the situation.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says the new coronavirus poses a low risk to the general public.

With reports from Julianna Perkins

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