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COVID-19 confirmed in Yukon

Sunday, 22 March 2020 20:48

During an emergency press conference on Sunday at 7:00 pm at the YTG building this afternoon, Dr. Brendan Hanley, Yukon’s Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH), confirmed the first two cases of COVID-19 in the territory.

The two cases were confirmed Sunday morning and are two Whitehorse residents from the same household.

They returned last week from a trip to the United States and upon arrival in Yukon developed symptoms last week and went then into self-isolation.

Yukon Communicable Disease was contacted, a testing was conducted. Both individuals present at this point with mild illness and are continuing to self-isolate at home.

Yukon Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Brendan Hanley said during the press conference that this does not change the level of risk to Yukoners and these first cases demonstrate that the systems that have been put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 work.

He explained that the 2 individuals closely followed the advice of the CMOH after presenting with COVID-19 symptoms and reporting them.

The self-isolated couples test results were back in Whitehorse within three days.

Yukon Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Brendan Hanley said:

“Cooperation with all public health measures is critical to the response to COVID-19. Limiting the spread of COVID-19 by closely observing all self-isolation orders is essential to keep this disease from spreading in our territory. The fact that we have confirmed these cases in Yukon shows our system to test for and detect cases is working. We have been working diligently within Yukon’s health care system to ensure we are ready to manage cases and to assist those who are self-isolating at home. Prompt case detection, isolation, and contact tracing in combination with the difficult societal measures that we are all facing, will mean that we can manage COVID-19 in a way that both protects the public and provides high quality care to those who are infected.”

The most up-to-date information can be found at yukon.ca/covid-19.

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