RNAO Updates

Colleagues, as many of you have written to us, we need to move faster and be ahead of the curve for the eventuality of a COVID-19 Pandemic, and RNAO has committed to keeping you fully abreast of developments. The enhanced response structure announced earlier this week by Minister Elliott to safeguard the public from COVID-19 brings together a wide range of partners to review, strengthen and implement provincial and regional plans and ensure their responsiveness to the specifics of COVID-19.

Brief Update on Repatriated Canadians: Canadians from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, who arrived on Feb. 21 from Japan, are in Cornwall and have 1 day left of their quarantine period. To date, there are no COVID-19 positive cases among the repatriated Canadians from Wuhan who were quarantined at CFB Trenton or who are currently in quarantine at the NAV Centre.

Minister of Health Christine Elliott announced yesterday it is implementing enhanced measures to safeguard the public from COVID-19. There will be an enhanced response structure that formally brings together a wide range of partners to review, strengthen and implement provincial and regional plans and ensure their responsiveness to the specifics of COVID-19.

The number of confirmed cases in Canada reported by EOC this evening is 27, with 18 persons in Ontario, eight in British Columbia, and one in Quebec. For details on the four new cases in Ontario check here. In Ontario, at this time, there are 12 persons under investigation with lab results pending.

Brief Update on Repatriated Canadians: Canadians from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, who arrived on Feb. 21 from Japan, are in Cornwall and have 4 days left of their quarantine period. To date, there are no COVID-19 positive cases among the repatriated Canadians from Wuhan who were quarantined at CFB Trenton or who are currently in quarantine at the NAV Centre.

As reported yesterday, WHO has increased the assessment of the risk of spread and risk of impact of COVID-19 at the global level. The continued increase in the number of cases, and the number of affected countries over the last few days, are clearly of concern.

In his media report today, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus lists ten basic things we should know about the virus and how to diminish the risk of transmission.

The number of confirmed cases in Canada reported by EOC is 13, with six persons in Ontario and seven in British Columbia. In Ontario, at this time, there are 21 persons under investigation with lab results pending.

After a fantastic two day training of Best Practice Guideline’s Champions from the East Toronto Health Partners BPSO OHT (Ontario Health Team), my RNAO colleagues and I marvel at their deep commitment and vibrant engagement. At this OHT training we had 110 participants from 17 organizations -- representing all sectors and services.

For this we have updated our communication’s plan. The Ministry of Health’s Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Situation Reports will be shared with you each day of the week, and also the Situation Reports posted daily by WHO.