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A plane carrying 176 Canadian citizens from the centre of the global novel coronavirus outbreak landed at Vancouver International Airport after 9 p.m. local time Thursday evening.
Flight HFM322 departed from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak originated, and stopped for refuelling in Vancouver for about two hours before heading to the Canadian Forces Base Trenton, where it is expected early Friday.
Myriam Larouche, a 25-year-old from L’Ascension, Que., who is studying tourism management at the Central China Normal University in Wuhan, described the flight as “pretty long,” but noted everyone slept for most of it.
All evacuees will spend 14 days under quarantine on the military base in southern Ontario being monitored to see if they have contracted the virus.
“I think I’m going to sleep for 20 hours straight,” Larouche said, adding that the last few days have been stressful.
She said she is relieved to be back home because it’s been a long process that felt longer being in a different country.
A United States government flight from Wuhan with about 50 Canadians on board departed a short time after the Canadian evacuation flight.
The American plane will take Canada-bound passengers as far as Vancouver, where they will transfer to a second flight chartered by the Canadian government to CFB Trenton to join the rest of the evacuees.
Health authorities have documented five confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in Canada so far, and say the quarantine is necessary to ensure the virus doesn’t spread further.
On Thursday, two more presumptive cases of the novel coronavirus were diagnosed in British Columbia, where a total of four people have now been sickened with the illness.
Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Thursday afternoon that about two-thirds of Canadians seeking to leave Wuhan will have left for Canada.
The federal government has chartered another flight for remaining Canadians, with that flight scheduled to leave Wuhan, a city of 11 million people under quarantine, on Feb. 10.
“I think it’s a good thing because everybody who wants to depart will have a third chance to come back to Canada,” Champagne said at a press conference Thursday in Ottawa.
The government had space for 211 passengers on the first flight. Along with Canadian citizens, officials said 13 permanent residents and six Chinese nationals with Canadian visas were allowed to escort the 34 Canadian minors returning home.
Champagne said only 176 in total boarded the plane.
“As expected, we had a small number of no-shows at the airport, mostly related to individuals who changed their minds at the last minute,” he said.
More than 300 people have asked for Ottawa’s help getting out of the city.
Champagne said anyone who decided to stay behind would continue to receive consular assistance.
Consular services have also been offered to two Canadians in Japan who contracted the virus on a cruise ship quarantined in the port city of Yokohama, just outside Tokyo.
On Thursday evening, a statement from Princess Cruises, the operator of the Diamond Princess, said five more Canadians on the cruise ship have tested positive for the new coronavirus, bringing the total to seven.
The company said the Canadians were among 41 positive tests for the virus identified in the latest round of tests conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Health.
The Diamond Princess is carrying 1,045 crew and 2,666 guests, including 251 Canadians. Another 20 passengers were previously identified as being infected with the virus.
Local public health authorities will immediately disembark those guests for transport to local hospitals.
“This is the last batch to be tested and the quarantine end date will be Feb. 19, unless there are any other unforeseen developments,” said the statement from the cruise line.
Health Minister Patty Hajdu said unlike those returning home from Wuhan, once the Canadians on board the cruise ship are released from quarantine in Japan they will not be required to go through another period of isolation.
The latest figures report 636 deaths and 31,161 confirmed cases on mainland China. In addition, Hong Kong has had 22 cases, including one death. Macao has had 10 cases.
Most of the deaths have been in central Hubei province, where illnesses from the new type of coronavirus were first detected in December.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 7, 2020.
Laura Osman and Hina Alam, The Canadian Press