Seven more people in B.C. have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, including two health-care workers at a long-term care home in North Vancouver, B.C.’s provincial health officer has announced.
Another two cases appear to have been contracted through community transmission, Dr. Bonnie Henry said Tuesday afternoon. Three are travel-related.
The two cases of community transmission are a man in his 90s and a man in his 40s, both residents of the Fraser Health region who are currently in isolation at home. Henry said the sources of their infections are currently under investigation.
The two health-care workers were both exposed at Lynn Valley Care Centre in North Vancouver, which has experienced an outbreak of COVID-19 infections, with eight identified to date. On Monday, Henry revealed B.C. had recorded the first COVID-19-related death in Canada: a man in his 80s who was a resident of the same care home.
The outbreak at the care home began with B.C.’s first recorded case of community transmission, a woman in her 50s. That patient was admitted to hospital overnight on Monday, and is in stable condition Henry said.
Watch: Dr. Bonnie Henry gives an update on the situation at Lynn Valley Care Centre
The three other new cases announced on Tuesday include a woman in her 60s who recently returned from a tour in Egypt, a man in his 40s who travelled to Germany and a man in his 90s who returned from a cruise on the Grand Princess in February.
Henry added that in light of the worsening situation in Italy, officials are asking anyone who returns from travelling there to self-isolate for 14 days, the same precautions taken for those returning from Iran and China.
Tuesday’s announcement wasn’t all bad news, though. An 80-year-old woman who was in critical condition at Vancouver General Hospital has now returned home to continue her recovery from the virus, Henry said.
To date, 39 people in B.C. have tested positive for the virus. Ontario has 36 confirmed cases, Alberta 14 and Quebec four with one presumptive case bringing the total number of cases in Canada to 87.
Watch: Dr. Bonnie Henry talks about the COVID-19 connection to Egypt
Two private schools in B.C. — Collingwood in West Vancouver and Glenlyon-Norfolk in Victoria — have closed four days early for spring break over concerns a person who may have contracted COVID-19 had been in the school.
Across the border, Washington state remains the hardest hit in all the U.S., reporting 24 deaths to date with over 250 people infected.
Earlier in the day, Air Canada suspended all flights to and from Italy, with the final return flight departing Rome for Montreal on Wednesday.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has put the entire country on lockdown in a sweeping attempt to contain the COVID-19 outbreak which has so far infected over 9,000 people and killed more than 460.
