COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the US and India but the numbers for BC are being tackled. BC Health Minister Adrian Dix worried about the jump in cases in certain US states. Worldwide there have been 7.1 million cases of the new coronvirus.
Police are releasing more details about a British Columbia woman they fear may be the victim of a homicide. Metro Vancouver's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says 45-year-old April Parisian was last heard from on March 28 and was declared missing earlier this month.
An assault on a 92-year-old Asian man with dementia in Vancouver is being investigated as a hate crime and police say they have recently noticed an increase in reports of hate-motivated incidents. Vancouver police say the man has "severe dementia" and wandered into a convenience store on March 13 when another man yelled racist remarks that included comments about COVID-19.
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said Canada was making progress in slowing the epidemic but warned against letting down its guard. The focus, Tam said, must be placed on stopping outbreaks in places like seniors homes and in other places where vulnerable populations live together in close quarters. How exactly Canada gets on the road to normalization will largely depend on the provinces, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday. However, the closure of the Canada-U.S. border will stay in place until May 21st at least, he said.
As he announced yet another emergency financial aid package Wednesday — this one aimed at students — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended his decision not to create a universal benefit that would ensure no Canadians affected by COVID-19 fall through the cracks. His focus for specific help Wednesday was students, announcing a $9-billion suite of programs for students whose education and job prospects are disrupted by the novel coronavirus. Trudeau says his government's approach has been to try to target its emergency financial assistance in stages to those who need it most, rather than to everyone at once, including those who don't need it.
B.C. declared a provincial state of emergency on March 18, a day after announcing a public health emergency, and it has been extended to April 28. The measure gives the province authority to take any action necessary to protect people and communities, including charging people who ignore public health orders.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says 20,000 Canadian travellers stranded abroad have been repatriated to Canada. But he says many more flights are needed to bring back large numbers of Canadians from India in particular.
