Here’s the latest news for Surrey, White Rock and beyond for Thursday, April 2. This will be updated as information becomes available:
• B.C. has recorded six new deaths due to COVID-19, Dr. Bonnie Henry said Thursday (April 2).
• A mobile drop-off site in Surrey has collected thousands of donated masks, gloves, gowns, hand sanitizer and other items in the fight against COVID-19.
• An Abbotsford family of five who was stranded in Vietnam due to the COVID-19 pandemic is now safely back home.
• Latest test results are showing B.C.’s response and staffing restrictions are containing infections in long-term care and assisted living facilities before they spread.
• B.C.’s provincial health officer says wearing homemade or non-medical masks may prevent people from spreading droplets that cause COVID-19, but wearing a mask likely does little to protect a person from the virus.
• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he is leaning on restrictions provinces have put in place rather than issuing a mandatory national stay-at-home order.
• The City of Delta has cancelled the 2020 Tour de Delta due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
• Post-secondary students in B.C. facing financial uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic now have access to one-time emergency funding from the province.
• Canadians should brace for drug shortages as COVID-19 disrupts global supply lines, the federal health ministry’s top public servant says.
• Operators of the 350-team Surrey Mayor’s Cup aren’t willing to offer refunds to teams that had signed on to play in this year’s edition of the soccer tournament.
• The teleconferencing app, called Zoom, can now be used for educators to communicate remotely with students while in-class learning is suspended to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
• A group of 45 student nurses from the University of the Fraser Valley have volunteered to run errands, get groceries, walk dogs and do other tasks so that those working through the COVID-19 pandemic can focus on rest.
• A local craft brewery has joined the effort to fight the COVID-19 pandemic by now distilling alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• People who receive income assistance and disability assistance payments in B.C. and don’t qualify for federal emergency aid will receive an additional $300 for the next three months.
• Surrey hospital staff fed by Delta restaurant with opening date delayed due to COVID-19.
• A union representing truck drivers and delivery workers are demanding that gas stations and highway rest areas that have been closed due to COVID-19 fully re-open for transportation workers.
• As Canadian travellers are brought home from around the globe, B.C.’s health minister has some sharp words for those considering disobeying the federally mandated 14-day self-isolation period.
• COVID-19 was impacting Canada’s economy before the current crisis, according to new figures from Statistics Canada.
• The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre has received over 100 recent complaints linked to COVID-19, according to a senior RCMP analyst.
• Cloverdale mom Christine Williamson shares her family’s challenges and strengths, and the impact the pandemic has had on theirs and other families with special-needs children.
• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his ministers are expected today to amplify their message that Canadians have a duty to stay home.
• If Plato was correct when he said that necessity is the mother of invention, then the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic fits that statement extremely well.
• An effort to make it easier for those struggling with their mental well-being during the pandemic has led a group of local experts to develop a one-stop-shop for online resources.
• Dr. Bonnie Henry says out of the total of 1,066 cases in the province, 606 have now fully recovered – a rate of 57 per cent.
• Cloverdale’s Kimberley Wadman says a stranger coughed in her face – claiming she has COVID-19 – after she reminded the woman about social-distancing protocols.
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