There are 75 new cases of COVID-19 and 8 deaths from the virus in BC since Thursday, bringing the total number of cases in the province to 1,445. Of those cases, 642 are in the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority region.
There are currently 134 people with the virus hospitalized in BC and 63 of those people are in critical care.
In today’s briefing, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry provided an update on the outbreak at a federal correctional centre in Mission and reiterated calls to continue taking physical distancing measures seriously over the long weekend.
Since announcing the outbreak at the Mission correctional facility on April 6, the number of confirmed cases at the facility has jumped to 26, including both inmates and staff. Of those cases, five people are currently hospitalized.
Henry said the province is working closely with the federal government to aid their containment efforts.
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Also today, the House of Commons approved a multi-billion dollar federal wage subsidy. The program will subsidize 75 per cent of wages for eligible businesses to prevent further layoffs and allow hard-hit companies to begin re-hiring employees.
Addressing physical distancing over the holiday weekend, Henry said that she is heartened by the respect for public health guidelines she has seen so far, but emphasized that people could not let up, as the consequences for doing so would not be immediately clear.
“What happens this weekend is going to be reflected in what we see in the coming weeks,” she said. “And we do not want to see increasing numbers of cases [and] increasing challenges in our healthcare system.”
Stay up to date on UBC information related to COVID-19 by visiting ubyssey.ca/covid-19, the websites of the BCCDC, the Public Health Agency of Canada or the World Health Organization. The province has set up a dedicated COVID-19 phone line at 1-888-COVID19 or text at 1-888-268-4319. For updates on UBC’s response to COVID-19, visit ubc.ca/campus-notifications/
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