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Health officials in Ontario say the latest case of the novel coronavirus in the province involves a patient who had recently travelled to Las Vegas.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health says more updates will be provided later in the day.

The new case marks the 24th patient to be diagnosed with COVID-19 in the province, though at least four of those people have since been cleared of the illness.

Thus far in Ontario, all of the patients had recently travelled outside the country or were in close contact with another patient who did.

But Canada's first apparent case of community transmission was reported in British Columbia last night, when officials announced eight new cases of the illness.

They say a woman in the Vancouver area was diagnosed with COVID-19, even though she did not travel recently and has had no known contact with anyone else diagnosed with the virus.

Health officials in Ontario, British Columbia and across Canada have said the risk posed by COVID-19 in this country remains low.

But they've been preparing for weeks for a possible outbreak, similar to the ones seen in Iran, South Korea, Italy and China -- where the virus originated.

There are thus far 49 confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 in Canada -- in addition to the two dozen in Ontario, there are 21 in British Columbia.

Quebec has two confirmed cases and one presumptive diagnosis that still has to be confirmed by the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg. Alberta reported its first presumptive case of the illness last night.

The Canadian Press