Man in Toronto confirmed as Ontario's 7th coronavirus patient

Ontario's seventh case of COVID-19 has been confirmed, according to public health officials, in a man who arrived in Toronto on Tuesday from Iran.

Dr. David Williams, the province's Chief Medical Officer of Health, announced the latest coronavirus news in a government media release late Friday morning.

"After arriving in Toronto on February 25, 2020, a man in his 50s presented himself at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre's emergency department on February 26, 2020 with a travel history to Iran," reads the release.

"The established infection prevention and control protocols were initiated; the patient was cared for at the hospital using all appropriate precautions, including being isolated as he was being tested for COVID-19."

The patient was discharged that same day, according to Ontario Public Health, and has been in self-isolation since.

MEDIA RELEASE: Ontario Confirms New Positive Case of COVID-19 in Toronto. More info: https://t.co/lNxv2RRxB7

— Toronto Public Health (@TOPublicHealth) February 28, 2020

Previous to this case, four other people who recently travelled to China and two who recently travelled to Iran had tested positive for the disease in Ontario, though the first three patients have now been cleared of the virus."

Three cases of COVID-19 are currently listed on the Ontario government's website as "confirmed positive," while one more is listed as "presumptive positive." A total of 739 tests have come back as negative within the province.

Globally, 82,294 cases of the virus have been confirmed — 78,630 of them in China.

Today's @WHO situation report adds 9 new countries to the list of those affected by #coronavirus https://t.co/RpI3XkVbtf #COVID19 #SARSCoV2 pic.twitter.com/doi4bfuS3l

— Medical News Today (@mnt) February 28, 2020

As of February 28, at least 2,747 people had died as a result of contracting the coronavirus within China. Another 57 people have died across 46 other countries around the globe, according to the World Health Organization.

The Canadian government is still warning citizens to avoid avoid all travel to the province of Hubei in China. The city of Wuhan, where the virus is thought to have originated, remains in quarantine with more than 11 million residents on lockdown.

The WHO currently has a global risk level of "high" listed for the 2019 coronavirus outbreak, but Toronto Public Health maintains that there is little risk to members of the general public.

"Toronto Public Health is actively engaged in contact tracing and case management," read the province's media release on Friday.

"There are now currently four positive cases in the province. However, the risk of being infected with COVID-19 in Ontario remains very low. "