Canadian health authorities have embarked on a race against the clock to identify and check the health status of passengers who shared a plane journey between China and Toronto with two   people detected with the coronavirus which has infected thousands in China and 17 other countries and caused over 80 deaths

Toronto Ontario confirmed on Monday. January 27 its second case of the coronavirus responsible for the infectious outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan, reporting that the wife of the first patient to contract the disease in the country has also been infected.

Health authorities in the province of Ontario said in a statement that since returning to Toronto, the woman placed herself in isolation to avoid possible infections.

The province's medical director, Dr. David Williams, said that "given the fact that it was placed in isolation, the risk to Ontario residents remains low."

The authorities are especially interested in identifying about 30 people who sat in the immediate

vicinity of the two patients.

Authorities said the two patients arrived in Toronto on flight CZ311 of China Southern Airlines. They also said that the first Canadian case of the new coronavirus already exhibited symptoms of the

disease during the flight back to Canada.

The patient, about 50 years old and who arrived in Toronto from Wuhan after stopping in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, is stable and is being treated in the Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto The second patient is being treated at another hospital in the city. 

Toronto suffered 14  deaths, including medical staff  during the SARS outbreak