Five patients and two staff members in one unit at Vancouver General Hospital have tested positive for COVID-19, prompting health officials to declare an outbreak in that section of the hospital. Vancouver Coastal Health says inpatient unit T10C in the hospital's Jim Pattison Pavilion is now closed to new admissions and transfers. Visits to the unit, on the tenth floor of the hospital's highrise tower, have been suspended except for end-of-life compassionate visits. The health authority says strict infection prevention and control protocols have been implemented. Those include enhanced cleani

Just three hotels in Vancouver have been authorized so far to accept quarantine visitors flying in from outside Canada. The three-night forced stay at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport, the Radisson Vancouver Airport or the Westin Wall Centre, Vancouver Airport will cost two thousand dollars. For that, you'll get the room, food, security, transportation and COVID-19 infection prevention and control. The new federal quarantine measures for travels start today and limit air travel arrivals from outside Canada to just four cities. Flights from outside Canada will be arriving in Vancouver, Calgary,

The faster-spreading COVID-19 variant first discovered in the United Kingdom has made its way into some British Columbia schools.A statement from the Fraser Health authority says it is working closely to manage exposures at six schools in the Surrey and Delta school districts.Five of the schools are in Surrey: Woodward Hill, James Ardiel and A. H. P Matthew elementaries, and Kwantlen Park and Tamanawis high schools, along with Hellings Elementary School in Delta.The authority says only those staff and students who have been identified as close contacts need to be tested and they have been con

British Columbia is recording 508 new COVID-19 cases. Health officials also announced six new deaths at a news conference today. The figures mean a total of 75,835 COVID-19 infections have been confirmed in BC since the pandemic began. British Columbia's death toll sits at 1,327. British Columbia has hit a one-day record for vaccinations as new preliminary data from residents of long-term care homes and health-care workers shows the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine reduces the risk of the virus within two to three weeks. B.C. used 12,250 vaccine doses yesterday, bringing the province's total

The British Columbia Centre for Disease Control says new preliminary data shows that a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine reduces the risk of the virus by 80 per cent within two to three weeks of receiving the shot. The agency says in a statement that research led by Dr. Danuta Skowronski, the head of its influenza and emerging respiratory pathogens team, came to the conclusion after analyzing COVID-19 cases in long-term care homes. Researchers studied cases between December 2020 and February 2021, seeing a drop in cases starting at about 14 days after vaccination as well as a reduction in hos

Alberta authorities have arrested a 37 year old man from British Columbia for allegedly creating and uploading child pornography involving his daughter to the internet. The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, which focus on organized crime, say in a news release that their Internet Child Exploitation Unit in Calgary received a tip about the man who was in Fort St. John, B.C. It says investigators identified the suspect allegedly uploading child sexual abuse materials online, and further investigation revealed the photos were of the suspect's young daughter. The unit says the suspect had b

US residents who live in Point Roberts, Washington, won't need COVID-19 tests if they are travelling through Canada for essential services. Travel between the seaside enclave and the rest of Washington state requires a 40-kilometre trip through British Columbia. Washington State Governor Jay Inslee says that habitual residents of Point Roberts will not have to take a COVID-19 test in either the United States or Canada. The Canada-US border has been closed to non-essential travel since March 2020. Anyone entering Canada for non-essential travel purposes needs to show negative COVID-19 tests at

Just days after former British Columbia Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson delivered his official letter of resignation, the first candidate has come forward to replace him. The two-term Liberal member for the riding of Skeena, Ellis Ross, confirms he will seek the party's leadership. Ross, a former chief councillor of the Haisla Nation, became the first Liberal to win the Skeena riding in 16 years when he was elected to the Legislature in 2017. He briefly held the post of minister for natural gas development and minister responsible for housing before Christy Clark's Liberal government was repl

Health officials in British Columbia are reminding residents to follow public health orders and restrictions after a significant rise in cases from earlier this week. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say 617 new cases have been recorded, for a total of 75,327 infections. B.C. had 348 cases between Sunday and Monday, and the average has been under 500 daily infections in the last month. Dr. Henry and Dix say in a joint statement that much of the uptick in cases has been in the Lower Mainland and the northern region. They also reported four more deaths,