More than 1,300 people in British Columbia have tested positive for COVID-19.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said 45 new test positive cases have been identified bringing the total number of those having tested positive to 1,336 as of April 8.
Five additional deaths have also occurred within the past 24 hours due to COVID-19.
“Unfortunately it continues to differentially affect our elders who are in long-care including two people in Amica Edgemont, one of the long-term care homes that is experiencing an outbreak, and an additional person in the Lynn Valley Care Centre,” Henry said.
The total number of people in B.C. who have now passed away due to COVID-19 is 48.
Of the province’s test-positive cases, 130 have been identified in the Interior Health region and 23 in Northern Health.
838 people have made a full recovery.
Both Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix are imploring British Columbians to stay home this weekend.
“We’ve said this before and we’ll say this again that we need to stay home this weekend,” Henry said. “We need to be close to our families, to the people we share our homes with, and we need to reach out to others virtually and stay connected. But this is not the time to take unnecessary travel, it’s not the time to go to some of our smaller or remote communities where the services may not be available to support you or support the community should this virus be introduced into those communities.”