It was two years ago today, on Jan. 25, 2020, that Canada’s first “presumptive” case of what would later be called COVID-19 was reported in Toronto.
It involved a man in his 50s who had recently travelled to Wuhan, China — the epicentre of the outbreak at the time.
The man was being treated at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital and his condition was reported to be stable, officials said.
The case was later confirmed through secondary testing and it marked the beginning of an unprecedented period in Ontario and Canada as a whole.
News of the first “presumptive” case broke late on a Saturday afternoon.
A hastily organized press conference with health officials was held not long after at Queen’s Park in downtown Toronto.
It comprised of Ontario’s then-chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams, associate chief medical officer Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Toronto’s medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott, among others.
The officials sat crammed together as they said that the risk to the public as a whole was low.
Officials hold a press conference at Queen’s Park in Toronto on Jan. 25, 2020 after the first “presumptive” case of the new coronavirus was reported in Canada.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
“Ontarians can rest assured that the province’s integrated health-care system today is far more prepared to respond to any potential health risks than in the past,” Elliott said at the time.