The fifth case of COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus, has been found in British Columbia.

B.C. health minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry issued a joint statement today (February 14) to announce a new case of COVID-19 in the province.

The individual is a female in her 30s who lives in the B.C. Interior Health region and she recently returned from China. She is presumed positive but samples have been sent to the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg for federal confirmation.

The patient remains in isolation and her close contacts have been identified.

The four other B.C. cases of COVID-19 have been located in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, and all of these patients remain in isolation. If this latest presumptive case is confirmed, it would be the eighth case in Canada, with the other cases in Toronto and London, Ontario.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) has tested 491 individuals and 715 samples as of February 13.

Once again, Dix and Dr. Henry stated that the risk of contagion in B.C. remains low at this time.

More information about the virus is available at the BCCDC website.

There have been approximately 64,500 cases worldwide reported, with about 1,400 deaths and 7,200 recoveries.

The highest numbers of cases outside of mainland China include Singapore (67 cases), Hong Kong (56), Thailand (33), Japan (29), and South Korea (28). The U.S. currently has 15 cases.