The note also said the public health system is "well-equipped to contain cases coming from abroad, limiting the spread in Canada." Public health officials questioned the accuracy of media reports out of the city of Wuhan, in Hubei, suggesting that the virus was spreading through person-to-person contact. Between Jan. 22 and Feb. 18, 58,000 travellers arrived in Canada from China — 2,030 of them were coming from Hubei province. The memo said it was best to leave all self-isolation measures as voluntary to ensure there is "less pressure on public health resources." By Feb. 26, when there were 78,000 COVID-19 cases in mainland China, public health officials continued to counsel Hajdu that "the public health risk within Canada remains low."

Source: CBC News April 10, 2020 07:58 UTC