B.C. announces 91 more cases of COVID-19 but no new deaths

B.C. has confirmed another 91 cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours but no new deaths, leaving the provincial total at 227.

In a written statement, Provincial Health OfficerDr. Bonnie Henry and Deputy Health MinisterStephen Brown said there are1,376 active cases of people infected with COVID-19 in B.C.

Sixty-two people are in hospital,18of whom are in intensive care.

Public health is actively monitoring 3,368 people across the provincewho are in self-isolation due to COVID-19 exposure.

There are no new health-care facility outbreaks or other community outbreaks, although there continueto be community exposure events. There are nine long-term care or assisted-living facilities and five acute-care facilities that have active outbreaks.

Three outbreaks have been declared over:Bear Creek Villa independent-living facility in Surrey, Normanna long-term care facility in Burnabyandan outbreak at the Loblaws warehouse in Surrey.

In their written statement, Henry and Brown saidnew cases of COVID-19 "remain higher than where we would like them to be."

"The impact of this means that thousands of people in B.C. are now under active public health monitoring and care, with many forced to deal with the stress and anxiety that comes with having to self-isolate away from work, friends and family."

Henry and Brown urged British Columbians tocontinue tofollow the COVID-19 basics, including frequent handwashing, physical distancing and limitingsocial interactions.

On Wednesday afternoon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to the nationin a rare televised address, outlining the federal government's pandemic recovery plan.

In his address, he warned that Canada was at a crossroads, addingthere can be no doubt that four of the country's provinces Alberta, B.C., Ontario and Quebec are in thesecond wave of COVID-19.

"We have the power to get this second wave under control. I know we can do it, because we've already done it once before," Trudeau said.