B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix looks on as provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry provides an update on COVID-19 on July 6, 2020.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Province of B.C.
July 07, 2020 - 4:23 PM
B.C.'s state of emergency has been extended until July 21, allowing the government to keep orders in place to ensure public safety.
"We're starting to see some restrictions lifting, but there are measures we need to keep in place to continue battling COVID-19," Premier John Horgan said in a press release.
This will allow government to continue to take the necessary steps to keep British Columbians safe while measures that would allow the state of emergency to be lifted seek legislative approval, the province said. It can extend the period further periods of up to 14 days at a time. During the 2017 wildfire season, the province was in a provincial state of emergency for 10 weeks from July 7 to Sept. 15.
The number of COVID-19 cases increased by 12 today, July 7, bringing the provincewide total to 2,990 since the pandemic swept into B.C.
Of the total number of cases, 162 are active and 2,645 people who tested positive have recovered. There were no new COVID-19 related deaths overnight, leaving the total number of fatalities in B.C. at 183, Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.'s provincial health officer said in a joint statement.
Of the total COVID-19 cases, 16 individuals are hospitalized, four of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.
"While there are no active community outbreaks in B.C., new cases and community exposure events continue to occur in the community," Dr. Henry said in the statement.
"There has been a new community exposure event at Hotel Belmont bar and nightclub in the Vancouver Coastal Health region. Public health teams have issued an alert for anyone who may have been at the premises on June 27 and June 29.
Those who were at one of these locations are asked to monitor themselves for symptoms, limit contact with others and contact 811 to arrange for testing if any symptoms develop.
Dr. Henry reminds B.C. residents that the best way to protect themselves is to keep the number of people you see to a minimum and as much as possible, maintain a safe distance from others and use a mask when that is challenging.
Following these rules for safe social interactions also supports important contact tracing efforts, allowing public health teams to quickly identify those who may be at risk, put additional precautions in place and contain further transmission, she said in the release.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 1,013 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 1,576 in the Fraser Health region, 133 in the Island Health region, 203 in the Interior Health region and 65 in the Northern Health region.
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