Dr. Bonnie Henry and health minister Adrian Dix at their daily media briefing of new COVID-19 cases and the ongoing situation in British Columbia. (BC Government Flickr)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

COVID-19 BRIEFING

Vancouver Island COVID-19 cases spike by seven, recoveries pass 1,000

Apr 21, 2020 | 3:11 PM

NANAIMO — The Island Health region is now home to 109 COVID-19 cases, an increase of seven confirmed positive tests in the last 24 hours.

It’s the largest single day increase for the Island Health region since March 18 and 19.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the cases are part of 25 new patients across the province for a total of 1,724.

The number of hospitalizations rose slightly to 109 as did the number of patients in intensive care. The number of people fully recovered from COVID-19 now sits at 1,041.

An outbreak of COVID-19 has been confirmed by a small village of the northern tip of the Island.

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Alert Bay imposed a curfew and local state of emergency declaration on Sunday, April 19 in relation to the virus. Residents are being contained to their homes between 9:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.

A week prior, Alert Bay’s mayor tested positive for COVID-19 despite never leaving the Island.

Officials are limiting travel to verified essential travel only and expect the additional restrictions to be in place for at least a week.

Dr. Henry said during her address on Tuesday afternoon, the government is looking at ways to scale back restrictions on people and businesses in a careful manner.

“Now is the time to start thinking about how do we do this safety with our precautions in place and making sure we have them in place to protect those who are most likely to have severe illness from this disease,” Henry said.

Earlier Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $350 million in federal funding to support registered charities across the country.

A majority of the money will go to three major nationwide groups to help out around 86,000 registered charities in the country.

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