The government of Ontario has issued another update on the state of the 2019 novel coronavirus in the province this morning — including the diagnosis of two additional cases.

This brings the provincial total to 22 confirmed patients (four of whom have recovered) and the national total to 36, plus one additional presumptive positive case in Quebec. Dozens more are under investigation.

Once again, the most recent individuals to test positive for the virus are people who have recently traveled to countries that have become new hotspots for COVID-19.

2 additional #Coronavirus cases confirmed in Ontario, bringing the nations total to 36.

One of the two had recently travelled from Iran and the other returned from Italy.#canada https://t.co/Grgp3v72SW

— getserious1234 (@getserious1234) March 5, 2020

One of the new cases announced today is in a man in his 60s who returned to Toronto from Iran on February 29 and was seen at the emergency department of Sunnybrook Hospital on March 3. He has since gone home to recover in isolation.

The second is a woman in her 50s who just got back to the GTA on March 3 after a trip to Italy. She was seen and tested at emerge at Kitchener's Grand River Hospital. She presented with mild symptoms of the communicable disease and is also now in self-isolation at home.

The provincial and federal governments have reinforced that the risk of infection to Ontarians and Canadians at large remains low, but have warned against non-essential travel to Iran, northern Italy and China. The virus is not at this time transmitting between people locally within Ontario.

Canadians also being advised to avoid non-essential travel in regions of northern Italy and to exercise a high degree of caution in Japan. All due to COVID-19.

— Catherine Cullen (@cath_cullen) March 2, 2020

Health officials and people in general are preparing for the pandemic potential of the illness, which has now afflicted more than 93,000 people in at least 82 countries.

A bit more than half of those who have been diagnosed have recovered, while more than 3,300 have died. The fatality rate is around 3.4 per cent globally, with the elderly and otherwise immunocompromised the most at risk.

Mainland China remains the epicentre for COVID-19, with more than 80 per cent of cases and around 90 per cent of fatalities. South Korea, Iran and Italy have had the highest numbers of reported cases outside of the country, all of them with more than 3,000 so far.