CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Alberta Health Officials says the risk of coronavirus making its way to the province remains low.
Alberta Health continues to closely monitor the situation and has said there are zero confirmed cases in the province.
“The risk to Albertans is still considered to be low,” said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Chief Medical Officer of Alberta. “There are no cases of the novel coronavirus in Alberta at this time.”
That was the update provided on Monday, but Hinshaw would not go into detail about how many cases are being tested in Alberta.
“The information that is most important, with respect to assessing risk to the public, is the number zero,” Hinshaw said.
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The majority of people being tested are those who may have been exposed during air travel.
Alberta Health Link has seen a spike in calls due to coronavirus having similar symptoms to influenza.
“I do know there have been more calls than usual,” Hinshaw added. “We are very aware that Albertans are concerned about this.”
Following the news of Toronto’s first case of the virus, Minister Tyler Shandro took to Twitter to address concerns about the virus.
Some more information about what this means for Albertans and what steps @GoAHealth and @AHS_media are taking. First, the overall risk to Albertans from 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) continues to be low. https://t.co/1roP1SWqlj
— Tyler Shandro ???????? (@shandro) January 26, 2020
In the tweets, Shandro said the virus has not been spotted in Alberta and the case in Toronto was travel related.
As of Monday, Ontario has reported two cases of coronavirus to a husband and wife who had travelled from China.
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For those worried about contracting the bug, Hinshaw said people should keep their distance from those who are sick and wash your hands as often as possible.
It’s also being suggested to call 811 instead of showing up to the emergency room to receive proper advice in case you have coronavirus.
