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The first Canadian patient diagnosed with coronavirus began showing signs of illness on the plane that brought him back from the disease’s epicentre, the country’s chief public health officer said Sunday as she stressed that the risk of future infection is low.

Dr. Theresa Tam said the man in his 50s, currently in stable condition in a Toronto hospital, showed mild symptoms on the flight that brought him back to Canada from China earlier this week.

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Tam said authorities are now working to help track some of his fellow passengers, but said the case demonstrates that the country’s public health protocols are working.

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“The patient has been managed with all appropriate infection and prevention control protocols, so the risk of onward spread in Canada is low,” Tam said at a morning news conference in Ottawa. “Nevertheless it would not be unexpected that there will be more cases imported into Canada in the near-term given global travel patterns.”