Ontarians should brace for months of precautions on the new coronavirus as the situation continues to worsen in China, the province’s chief medical officer says.

The populous Asian nation faces a “huge task” in getting the respiratory outbreak under control with the official number of dead and sick more than doubling in recent days, Dr. David Williams said Monday.

“We continue to be vigilant” even though the risk in Ontario remains low at this point, he told a news conference.

“We have to keep at this. As I said to our team, we’re at this for the next three to four months.”

Ontario now has 29 people under investigation for the virus, including three cases expected to test negative.

All have travelled to the city of Wuhan, where the virus never before seen in humans began spreading at a market in early December, the surrounding province of Hubei — where strict travel restrictions are in place — or elsewhere in China.

There are no new confirmed Ontario cases in addition to the three previously announced — a man who was released from Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto last Friday, his wife who stayed in their home, and a young Western University student in London also at home.

The trio have to pass two tests at least 24 hours apart showing they are free of the coronavirus before being cleared.

Those tests are being done “every few days” by local public health officials, said Dr. Barbara Yaffe, associate medical officer.

Williams said health authorities are developing a more detailed protocol for such tests — nasal and throat swabs send for lab analysis — and when they should be conducted.

The rest of the world is watching closely as China grapples with the virus, asking other countries for help supplying masks, supplies and equipment to limit its spread.

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“Their management is very much a concern of mine to see is their containment working well and…are the people there getting seen, are they being cared for, are they being tested in timely fashion?,” Williams said.

“The more rigorous that is the more reassured I am on a go-forward basis.”

There are now 17,392 cases globally, with 17,205 in China, and 362 deaths — all but one in China.