THERE HAVE been 55 additional COVID-19 cases since Wednesday, bringing the total to 1,121, and six additional deaths, bringing the total to 31.
Of that number, 149 are in hospital, 68 in intensive care and 641 recovered.
There are now 21 long-term care homes with at least one confirmed case of COVID-19. The full list is here.
Vancouver has recorded its first two deaths from COVID-19, and one case has been confirmed at the Okanagan Correctional Centre.
Public health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said concerns have been raised in small communities about city dwellers flocking to their cottages during the current pandemic. She urged them to stay home and not visit cottage country.
"This is not the time to travel for tourism purposes within British Columbia or anywhere else," said B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix.
Henry also noted that there are a number of religious holidays coming up that would typically result in large gatherings of worshippers—Easter, Passover and Ramadan. She urged people of faith to find some other way of celebrating them without public gatherings.
There is also growing concerns—and frustration—over Canadians who are still returning from abroad. They are told to self-isolate for 14 days, but there have been social media shaming reports outing some of these travellers going straight to grocery stores when they get back to Canada.
To deal with a spike in COVID-19 cases, the province has announced plans to open 271 beds at the Vancouver Convention Centre by April 8 for non-COVID-19 patients in order to free up critical care beds at the 19 hospitals in B.C. that have been designated as pandemic hospitals.
Here are the numbers for Thursday, April 2, with numbers for April 1 in brackets:
New—55 (53)
Total—1,121 (1,066)
Total deaths—31 (25)
Hospitalized—149 (142)
In intensive care—68 (67)
Recovered—641 (606)
@nbennett_biv
Find the original story here: https://biv.com/article/2020/04/pandemic-update-six-more-deaths-wednesday
