Here’s the latest news Tuesday from across Canada and around the world on the novel coronavirus:
10:30 p.m.: The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Sudbury by the city’s medical officer of health. Dr. Penny Sutcliffe said a man in his 50s presented himself to the emergency department at Health Sciences North on March 7.
On March 2 and 3, the man attended the PDAC (Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada) 2020 convention in Toronto.
“Our focus is on breaking the chain of transmission to limit the spread of infection and as a precautionary measure, we are asking those who attended PDAC 2020 to monitor for symptoms for 14 days,” said Dr. Sutcliffe.
7:39 p.m.: B.C.’s top doctor confirmed there are seven new cases of COVID-19 in the province on Tuesday.
There are now 39 cases of COVID-19 in British Columbia.
Two of the new COVID-19 cases announced Tuesday are healthcare workers who work at Lynn Valley Care Centre, the care home that has been dealing with a novel coronavirus outbreak. That makes four care workers from that home who have been diagnosed with the disease.
Those two workers are in isolation at home, said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, who also confirmed there are two new cases of community transmission in the Vancouver area. One is in hospital and the other is in isolation at home.
6:25 p.m.: Alberta announced seven new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, for a total of 14 in the province.
All of the cases are travel related, the government said in a news release. Three of the new cases are from the Edmonton area and four are from Calgary.
The Edmonton cases involve a man in his 70s and a woman in her 60s who travelled together as well another woman in her 30s who had recently travelled outside of Canada.
The Calgary cases involve a man in his 50s, two women in their 30s and one in her 40s.
The travellers recently returned from visiting a “range” of countries, including France, the Netherlands, Egypt, Iran, Taiwan, Germany, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, Panama, the Philippines and the United States. In several of the confirmed cases, the individuals visited more than one country.
3:30 p.m.: President Donald Trump pitched his proposed payroll tax break Tuesday on Capitol Hill as pressure mounts on the administration and Congress to work more vigorously to contain the coronavirus outbreak and respond to the financial fallout.
Trump’s economic team joined in presenting the economic stimulus package privately to wary Senate Republicans, who have been cool to additional spending at this stage. Democrats are preparing their own package of low-cost virus testing, unemployment insurance and sick pay for workers struggling to keep paychecks coming as the outbreak disrupts workplaces.
“We’re taking this unbelievably seriously,” Trump said after his meeting at the Capitol. “It will go away, just stay calm.”
3 p.m.: The Manitoba government is preparing to spend about $35 million on personal protective equipment as part of a federal procurement plan to deal with the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The procurement through the Public Health Agency of Canada will include items such as gloves, face masks and shields, thermometer covers and hand sanitizer for patients and health-care workers.
Health Minister Cameron Friesen says Manitoba is the first province to sign on.
2:58 p.m.: Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault says the government plans to offer guidance to event planners about when they should consider shutting down large gatherings in light of a possible novel coronavirus outbreak.
Though there’s been only limited community transmission of the virus in Canada, concert promoters, major sports leagues and festivals say they are watching carefully to decide whether they should be bringing crowds of people together.
