Sophie Gray
Local Journalism Initiative
There are no new cases of COVID-19 at the Okanagan Correctional Centre at this time, said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry during her provincial address on Saturday.
The health minister also updated the province’s case numbers to 1203 as of today, reporting an additional 29 cases since yesterday’s update. There are now 128 test-positive cases of COVID-19 in the Interior Health Region, 554 in Vancouver Coastal, 424 in Fraser Health, 76 in the Vancouver Island Health region and 21 in Northern Health.
Dr. Henry also reported an additional three deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths in the province to 38.
Dr. Henry noted that this is a lower number of increases than we have been seeing but we must continue to “keep our firewall strong” to combat the virus, as there is still time for the virus to get worse if we do not continue with physical distancing and staying at home.
“Everyone in British Columbia is doing what it takes to protect our families, our elders, our health-care workers and our communities. We must continue to hold the line; to keep our firewall strong and flatten the curve,” said Henry.
She also announced a new COVID-19 Strategic Research Advisory Committee, who’s work will include advising the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. The Foundation has been given $2 billion to fund further public health research.
“Their research will focus on B.C.-specific epidemiology and public health countermeasures to address some of the challenges of long-term care homes, inner city populations, rural communities, Indigenous people, and health-care workers,” said Dr. Henry. “This is in addition to a variety of research that is already underway across B.C., as we do all we can to understand this virus, to stop transmission and protect our province.”
