BC Government COVID-19 update notes eleven new cases for the province

The Friday afternoon update from Health Minister Adrian Dix and Public Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry delivered another increase to the British Columbia totals of reported cases of the COVID-19 virus in the province, with 11 new cases outlined, bringing the provincial total to 64.

“Three cases are connected to a cluster at Lions Gate Hospital, one is a close contact of the previously identified worker at the Lynn Valley Care Centre, five cases are travel-related and the remaining two cases are under investigation. 

The three individuals at Lions Gate Hospital are administrative staff. They have no known link to the Lynn Valley Care Centre, nor do they have regular contact with patients. 

Of those cases linked to travel, patients include two from Egypt, one from Iran, one from the Philippines and one from Mexico. 

Public health teams continue to be on site at both the Lynn Valley Care Centre and the Hollyburn House Retirement Residence, working to contain potential transmission to other residents and workers."

The Friday update also reviewed some of the pro-active measures that the province has taken, as well as to reiterate their warnings on out of country travel and dedication to social distancing in the community.

The full statement from the province along with links towards further information can be reviewed here.

Of the 64 cases reported in British Columbia to date, the majority are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and that of Fraser Health, one case has been recorded on Vancouver Island and one in the Interior Health region.

In total, Canada has 197 cases of the virus reported as of March 13th.

The BC Centre for Disease control has some valuable Coronavirus notes related to COVID-19 you can explore that information here.

You can learn more about the outbreak from both the Province and the Federal government from the links below:

Federal Government site

British Columbia Government site

The World Health Organization website also offers up the latest advisories on the global situation.

With no cases of COVID-19 recorded in Northern BC to this point, for the most part, Northern Health is defaulting to the provincial information flow.

You can review our archive of past statements and local information here.

Local governments and organizations have also provided for increased awareness of COVID-19 issues, the string of statements that came quickly at the end of the week can be reviewed here.

For notes from across Canada and British Columbia we have been archiving the latest items through our political portal Darcy McGee

Ottawa Observations

Victoria Viewpoints

For items of interest from Northern Health see our archive page here.