The First Child In Canada Has Been Diagnosed With Coronavirus In Calgary
A child has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus for the first time in Canada. The Calgary coronavirus diagnosis took place after a child in a downtown daycare tested positive as a carrier of the virus. As numbers continue to grow globally, this has been labelled as the first official known case of the virus infecting a minor in Canada.
The child attended the daycare on March 6, 2020. The daycare has since been closed and families are now working from home. The daycare in question is situated in Suncor Energy Inc.’s head office in the downtown core.
According to Erin Rees, spokesperson for Suncor Energy Inc, a child attending the Calgary daycare called the Pump-kin Patch Child Care Centre has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
At this time, both kids and parents have been informed of the situation and have been instructed to go into self-isolation until the end of the day on March 20.
Suncor also confirmed with Narcity that the daycare was closed as of Thursday, March 12 and is scheduled to reopen on March 23.
The company has told Narcity that arrangements are being made for the affected employees to work from home.
It is believed that the child, whose age has not been released, contracted the virus from a traveller. Suncor could not disclose how many children were in the daycare at the time nor confirm that the child was that of a Suncor employee.
The World Health Organization states that most locations in the world are at a low-risk for contracting COVID-19.
They have also noted that the people who are most at risk are the elderly and people with preexisting medical conditions including high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or lung disease.
According to the latest updated data from the WHO, Canada currently has 93 confirmed cases of the virus with 16 new cases and one death.
Classified as a pandemic by WHO, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 258 individuals globally in the past 24 hours.
Since the beginning of 2020, coronavirus has been a hot topic of discussion.
In fact, recent reports stated that the virus could affect up to 70% of Canadians if it's not contained.
Despite Saskatchewan working on a vaccine, it could be up to a year until anything is suitable for human use.
With presumptive cases popping up in places like New Brunswick, schools and universities are prepping for closures.
Even sports games have been impacted by the pandemic and the Golden State Warriors played in an empty arena for the first time in NBA history due to health concerns.
While Alberta remained relatively untouched for some time, the first COVID-19 case was officially confirmed in the province last week and Edmonton doctors stated that they felt underprepared.