Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Coronavirus: B.C. advises against travel outside Canada, reports 7 new cases

The province is also asking event organizers to cancel all events with more than 250 people
coronavirus
B.C. is reporting seven new cases of COVID-19, aka coronavirus, province-wide as of March 12, 2020. File photo

B.C. health officials are advising against all non-essential travel outside of Canada as they announced 7 new cases Thursday. 

That includes travel to the US, said health officials.

If anyone does travel, she added, they will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days after they return to Canada.

"That responsibility is what we owe to our fellow citizens," said B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix.

Two of the cases announced Thursday are in a West Vancouver care home, the second care home on the North Shore to report COVID-19 cases, said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.  

A resident of Hollyburn House, a man in his 90s has tested positive, said Henry. 

Two other health care workers, a man and a woman in their 40s, who are connected to both Hollyburn House and Lynn Valley Care Centre, have also tested positive. 

This the second care home on the North Shore to confirm cases of COVID-19. 

Three of Thursday's cases contracted the illness during travel. One, a man in his 40s, recently returned from travel in London and Scotland, while a couple - a man and a woman in their 40s - were on a cruise on the Nile in Egypt.

The province is also asking event organizers to cancel all events with more than 250 people, said Henry. 

There are now 53 cases of COVID-19 in B.C.

Read more from the Richmond News