Washington state health authorities have confirmed that four more people have died from illness caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19), bring the region’s total to six.
Dr. Jeff Duchin, of Public Health, Seattle & King County, said five of the deaths were people from King County and one was a person from Snohomish County, north of Seattle.
There were reports yesterday that the virus may have been circulating for weeks undetected in Washington state, which now has 18 confirmed cases.
On Sunday, health officials said a second person had died from the coronavirus: a man in his 70s from a nursing facility near Seattle, where dozens of people were sick and had been tested for the virus.
Authorities said the man died Saturday.
On Friday, health officials said a man in his 50s died of coronavirus, the first death from the virus in the U.S.
Both had underlying health conditions, and both were being treated at a hospital in Kirkland, Wash., east of Seattle.
Of the new Washington cases, two were women, one in her 80s and another in her 90s.
An eighth case of coronavirus was announced Saturday in B.C.. It was in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, which includes Richmond.
The patient was a woman in her 60s from Tehran, Iran who is visiting family who live in the VCH region, which stretches from Richmond to Vancouver, and north to Sea-to-Sky and Bella Coola.
The woman, who began experiencing symptoms a few days after she arrived in the province this week, is at home in isolation along with her family members, said B.C.'s top medical health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry.
Her infection is "relatively mild," Henry said, and the woman had a limited number of contacts.
"The small number (of contacts) are all in isolation in the same household and we're monitoring them carefully," she said.
Vancouver Coastal Health is actively investigating the case.
Henry said B.C.'s first four cases have "fully recovered" and are out of isolation. Most of their contacts are also now out of isolation following their 14 day quarantine, and none of them developed any symptoms.
"That's very good news," said Henry.
As of Monday afternoon, there were 90,433 confirmed cases of the virus worldwide, causing 3,119 deaths, mostly in China, where the disease originated late last year.
Third consective case in B.C. linked to Iran
B.C.'s sixth and seventh cases also trace to travel in Iran.
Case six, announced Feb. 20, is a woman in her 30s who travelled to Iran, returning to Vancouver Feb. 14 on a flight from Montreal. Case seven, which was confirmed Monday, is a close contact of case six's.
Both patients are at home in isolation in the Fraser Health region, which stretches from Delta in the west, to Hope in the east and White Rock in the south.
Case seven had shown symptoms of the illness prior to case six’s diagnosis, said Henry on Monday. While case six had a number of close contacts, all of whom health authorities have been in contact with, no one else is showing symptoms.
Three cases in Ontario and one in Quebec, all reported this week, are also connected to Iran.
Iran has reported 593 cases and 43 deaths as of Saturday. Over 200 new cases were announced Saturday.
"The situation in Iran is one that's very concerning and we're certainly watching that carefully," said Henry.
"We know that we have a large Persian community here in Canada and here in B.C. that are also watching that very carefully."
