A chicken processing plant in Vancouver has been closed due to an out break of COVID-19. Vancouver Coastal Health says 28 employees at the United Poultry Company plant have tested positive for the virus. It says the plant was shut down yesterday and all employees have been told to self-isolate for 14 days. BC health officials say there is no evidence that COVID-19 can be spread by meat or the packaging.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is reporting 25 new cases of COVID-19 in BC. She says that increases total cases to 17-hundred and 24. Henry says another resident at a long-term care home in Vancouver Coastal Health has died, raising the death toll in the province to 87. 109 people are in hospital, including 51 in intensive care.

The federal government says it hopes to process 90 per cent of applications for wage subsidies from employers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic by May 5. Jean-Yves Duclos, the vice-chair of the cabinet committee on COVID-19, offered the timeline after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this morning that applications for wage support will be open next Monday. However, neither Trudeau nor Duclos could say when money would actually start to flow to employers. Employers whose bottom lines have been hit by the pandemic will be able to apply for the federal government to cover up to 75 per cen

Canada's chief medical officer Dr. Theresa Tam says she and her provincial counterparts are considering ways to ease restrictions around COVID-19. But she says the fight against the pandemic remains a ``marathon'' and there are lots of unknowns at play. Tam is urging individual sectors to start thinking about innovative ways of reopening while preventing the illness from spreading, as immunity against COVID-19 across the country is ``not high.''

A survey of nearly 1,300 British Columbia businesses reveals just over half of those already closed to due COVID-19 restrictions expect to reopen. The BC Chamber of Commerce and several partners took part in the Mustel survey, which shows a further 38 per cent of businesses are unsure about reopening and eight per cent already know they won't be back. Of the small businesses still operating, the survey shows 43 per cent estimate they can only survive for a maximum of three more months under current restrictions. More than half report revenues have plunged 75 per cent or more and almost eight

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says two airplanes that were supposed to pick up protective equipment for frontline medical workers in China were forced to leave that country empty because of delays on the ground. Trudeau says the equipment was supposed to deliver equipment ordered by the federal government and one province, which he declined to identify. Trudeau says planes are only allowed to remain in China for short periods of time while checkpoints and other challenges make movement on the ground difficult.

Nova Scotia is reporting another death related to COVID-19, bringing the province's total to 10. The death occurred at the Northwood long-term care home in Halifax Regional Municipality. Nova Scotia is reporting 16 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the provincial total to 737 confirmed cases. Two hundred and eighty-six individuals have now recovered in Nova Scotia and their cases of COVID-19 are considered resolved. As of yesterday, there are 10 licensed long-term care homes and unlicensed seniors' facilities in Nova Scotia with cases of COVID-19, involving 128 residents and 62 staff.

Ontario is reporting 551 new COVID-19 cases today, and 38 new deaths. The new provincial total of 11,735 cases is a 4.9 per cent increase over Monday's total, which is the lowest growth rate in weeks. The total includes 622 deaths and 5,806 resolved cases which is nearly half.

Quebec is announcing it has broken through a grim milestone after recording more than 1,000 deaths from COVID-19. Premier Francois Legault said today 102 people died compared with yesterday, for a total of 1,041 deaths out of 20,126 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus. The province currently has 201 patients in intensive care, an increase of three people compared with yesterday. Legault says the infection rate in long-term care homes and senior residences continues to be a major challenge, adding there are 80 such facilities where he says the virus is not under control.