Passengers are being allowed to remain in their vehicles on the enclosed car decks of vessels operated by BC Ferries because of COVID-19. The ferry service says is relaxing its restriction after Transport Canada and the Canadian Ferry Association agreed to give ferry operators more flexibility to help people keep their social distance. BC Ferries says in a statement that passengers are normally kept off closed car decks to ensure their safety in an emergency. As a result of the temporary change in policy, the ferry service says it will increase patrols on the car decks of its vessels.

St. Patrick's Day won't be a party in Vancouver as health authorities have asked all bars and restaurants in the city to close their doors for the day. The request from the Vancouver Health Authority came just hours after the city's mayor said the shutdown would help efforts to control COVID-19 by keeping people away from packed St. Patrick's Day events. Gatherings of more than 50 people are now banned in British Columbia. The province's latest official count of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus is 103, including four deaths and six patients under care in hospital.

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart says he'll ask Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland to clarify Tuesday how federal relief funding during the COVID-19 pandemic will flow to cities. Stewart announced the closure today of public recreation centres, libraries, civic theatres and other non-essential services in an effort to encourage social distancing. He is also encouraging bars and restaurants to limit their capacity if they cannot ensure at least one metre of distance between people, while suggesting residents order take out or delivery to continue supporting those businesses. Three main ser

Vancouver's fire department is preparing to stop responding to the site of non-critical medical calls in order to preserve its resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fire Chief Darrell Reid says the department is looking at changing its service model so that firefighters only respond to the most critical medical calls, which may include COVID-19 cases in the future. But he says the idea is to triage calls to ensure the department can still respond to major fires and other emergencies. Under a triage system, he says emergency calls will be prioritized using a scoring system based on their sev

BC is reporting three more deaths from the new coronavirus. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said all three deaths occurred over the weekend and all are related to an outbreak at the Lynn Valley long term care centre in North Vancouver, where the first death occurred earlier this month. Henry has also ramped up the restriction on the size of permitted gatherings, ordering cancellation of any events where more than 50 people are likely to attend, the limit was set at 150 people last week. The province also plans to restrict long-term care access to essential visitors, only, in an eff

Port Coquitlam has joined Surrey, Delta and West Vancouver in closing all libraries, rec centres and other municipal facilities and scaling back civic services in order to contain the spread of COVID-19. The city of Vancouver is expected to make an announcement about its services this afternoon. This follows cancellation of many events over the weekend, the closure of 10 casinos operated by Great Canadian Gaming and several ski resorts, including Mount Washington on Vancouver Island and Whistler Blackcomb, and the closure or reduction in hours of many stores and malls, including Pacific Centr

The annual Vancouver Vaisakhi parade has been cancelled due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.The parade was scheduled to happen on April 18, 2020.Each year this celebration draws over 150,000 spectators.It’s the first time in the event’s 41 year history that it’s been cancelled.Organizers said they look forward to everyone’s participation and enjoyment in next year’s parade.

City of Surrey Recreation Centres, Ice Arenas, Pools and Libraries will be closed effective tomorrow (Monday, March 16) until further notice. Mayor Doug McCallum has directed the closure of all City of Surrey Recreation Centres, Ice Arenas, Pools and Libraries to minimize the risk of transmission of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Full refunds will be provided to anyone who has registered for activities affected by the closure and library due dates will be suspended during this period. “Given the ongoing concerns surrounding COVID-19, I am taking a proactive approach to ensure the health and saf

Public health officials say there are nine new cases of COVID-19 in British Columbia.Dr. Bonnie Henry says the new cases bring the provincial total up to 73.Five cases are connected to a cluster at the Lynn Valley Care Centre, one case is linked to travel from Portugal and the remaining three cases are under investigation.Henry says the province is also adapting its testing strategy, noting more cases are expected in the coming days.She says not everyone needs to get tested, even if they have recently travelled outside of Canada.