By Canadian Press

Ottawa to provide update on coronavirus response at noon

Feb 3, 2020 | 9:42 AM

OTTAWA — The federal government is to provide an update about Canada’s response to the novel coronavirus today as a plane prepares to evacuate hundreds of Canadians from the locked-down Chinese city of Wuhan.

The House of Commons health committee is also to receive a briefing this afternoon and health officials are likely to be grilled about a plan to quarantine evacuees at an Ontario military base.

Canada is still waiting for final approval for the evacuation from Chinese authorities, so there is no timeline yet for when the chartered plane will arrive at Canadian Forces Base Trenton.

Everyone on board, including staff and flight crew, will remain at the base for 14 days for further medical assessment and observation to ensure no one has contracted the illness.

There are now 325 Canadians asking for help to return to Canada from Wuhan, under quarantine because it is at the epicentre of the virus.

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Some 361 people have died from the disease while 17,205 have been infected, including four in Canada.

An Ontario father of a 15-month-old Canadian girl in Wuhan with her grandparents said his family could have some difficult decisions to make around the flight.

Richard Fabic’s daughter, Chloe, is a Canadian citizen, but her grandparents are permanent residents of Canada.

Fabic said China will only allow Canadian citizens to leave. Chloe travelling alone is “not an option that we like,” he said. 

“It is not a very palatable option to us to have a stranger take care of our child for a possibly 14-hour flight,” he said in an interview from his Mississauga home.

Fabic’s wife accepted a job in Victoria last year, and the couple decided that while they packed and moved to British Columbia from Ontario, Chloe could spend time in China with her grandparents and cousins. 

Fabic said he has been in touch with Canadian authorities about bringing Chloe back.

Last week, he received a call from the Canadian government asking for information such as who would be driving the family in China, what route they would take and details about Chloe’s grandparents, he said.

“I asked: ‘Does this confirm she’s going to be on the plane?’ They said ‘no.'” he said. “Until I get a hard no, I’m staying positive. It’s all up to the Chinese government.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2020

— With files from Hina Alam in Vancouver.

The Canadian Press