Canada now officially has its first coronavirus case in a child
Canada has officially confirmed its first case of coronavirus in a child.
The minor in Calgary attends Pump-kin Patch Child Care Centre, a daycare located in Suncor Energy Inc.’s head office in downtown Calgary, Alta.
Fellow students and their parents have been advised to go into self-isolation following the diagnosis. The daycare has shut down operations until March 23.
According to Suncor spokewoman Erin Rees, the child was last at the daycare on March 6. Rees would not release details of the child's age or gender.
Children — who have been labelled "super-spreaders" by some news outlets — are known to transmit the virus while only displaying mild symptoms.
The fatality rate for children up to the age of nine is 0 per cent. For those between 10 and 19, the rate is 0.2 per cent.
Medical professionals are still uncertain as to why, although an Australian physician has suggested coronavirus could be similar to infectious diseases like chicken pox: the older you get, the more severe the illness.
Alberta will publicly announce the daycare case in its daily media briefing on Thursday.
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