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Last week, the same week the World Health Organization declared a health emergency and Canada saw its first cases of novel coronavirus, one Ottawa hospital had more than 70 people in isolation and had to cancel elective surgeries for two days running. Other Ottawa hospitals were bursting at the seams.

Coronavirus? No, just business as usual in Ontario’s overburdened health system.

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While public health officials emphasize that the risk to Canadians from coronavirus remains low, questions are being raised about the health system’s ability to cope with a more widespread epidemic or pandemic — something international health officials have long warned will eventually appear.

Coronavirus might not end up being the challenge that stress-tests Ontario’s health system — so far, there are four cases in Canada: two in Toronto, a university student in London, Ont., and one in British Columbia — but its presence is a reminder that the health system is already stretched thin and vulnerable.