Coronavirus: around 40 plane passengers wanted by public health

The passage at Montreal airport of a passenger infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus is under investigation by Public Health, the passengers who have been around her are currently wanted by the government.

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The Department of Health is currently trying to contact 40 people who were in the vicinity of the passenger from British Columbia on an Istanbul-Montreal flight on February 14.

The lady, who returned from six weeks in Iran where an outbreak of the virus has since erupted, only transited through Montréal-Trudeau before leaving for Vancouver.

Contact analysis

Horacio Arruda, director of public health, confirmed Monday that the passengers “of the three rows in front and the three rows behind” the infected passenger were going to be contacted by his organization. The airline has provided this information to Quebec and tests should be carried out on these passengers to avoid the risk of contamination.

“By doing the epidemiological investigation, we traced the story of the lady, her symptoms and the flights she took. As applied in the usual public health protocols, an analysis of close contacts was made, “explains Dr. Arruda, specifying that the probabilities remained” low “.

“We still suggest voluntary isolation and ask them to take tests to make sure they haven’t caught the Coronavirus.”

Asked about the reasons why the entire plane was not evaluated as suggested by microbiologist Karl Weiss, the director of public health insisted on the mode of transmission of COVID-19 to explain the decision.

“It is a disease mainly transmitted by droplets, the patient was not very symptomatic during the trip, questions were asked about her mobility inside the plane, etc. This leads us to believe that if we do three rows in front and three rows behind […] it’s cautious and I think it’s adequate. The future will tell, “said Horacio Arruda.

No confirmed cases

Despite this, public health wanted to point out that no case of COVID-19 has yet been reported in Quebec.

Even though the virus is currently spreading outside of China’s original outbreak, Dr. Arruda says the guidelines still do not change in Quebec.

“The approach remains the same. We are still in the process of containing the disease, preventing it from spreading in Quebec with border measures, “said the director of public health, who once again wanted to reassure the population.

“Certainly people will start asking questions. […] But as of today, for Quebecers, we are not at risk. The people who are going to have upper respiratory symptoms, it is 99.9% different from the Coronavirus because it does not circulate here, “insists Mr. Arruda.

Case analyzes in Quebec (as of February 24, 2020, 3:00 p.m.)

• 1 person under investigation
• 43 negative reviews
• 0 confirmed cases

Source: Ministry of Health and Social Services

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