Summary of Assessment of Public Health Risk to Canada Associated with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV)

From the Public Health Agency of Canada, updated January 15, 2016

The risk assessment is reviewed on a regular basis and updated as required.

Risk Assessment

• The public health risk posed by MERS-CoV to Canada is considered low based on available information at this time. The risk may change as new information arises.
• MERS-CoV is considered a zoonotic virus that can lead to secondary infections among people. Many community-acquired infections are thought to be associated with direct or indirect contact with infected dromedary camels or camel-related products.
• Some of the infections have occurred in clusters of close contacts or in health care settings. This provides good evidence of human-to-human transmission. However, no community wide transmission has been observed. While human-to-human transmission has been observed in households in affected countries, most human cases reported to date have resulted from human-to-human transmission in health care settings.
• Additional cases of MERS-CoV infection are expected to be reported from the Middle East. Additionally, it is likely that cases will continue to be exported to other countries by tourists, travellers, guest, workers or pilgrims who might acquire infection following exposure to an animal or human source.

You can read the full Summary of Assessment on the PHAC website.