Daily update for Friday, April 24 on the COVID-19 pandemic in Surrey, White Rock and beyond. It will be updated as information becomes available:
• Gangs and organized crime groups in B.C. are changing how they operate and run their illegal business due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, police forces say.
• Two advisory groups are being formed in B.C. to keep the justice system moving amid the pandemic – and as restrictions are lifted – the government has announced.
• One man is in police custody after making threats against COVID-19 testing sites across Greater Victoria.
• Almost three months after B.C. recorded its first case of COVID-19, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is preparing for a “second phase” of health restrictions that eases restrictions on people and the economy.
• Women delivering babies during the COVID-19 pandemic are only allowed to bring one person into the hospital with them.
• The Vancouver Aquarium, which has been facing the risk of permanently shutting down, says it has received more than $600,000 in donations since going public about its financial situation due to COVID-19.
• The lights on White Rock’s iconic pier will glow red on Friday, April 24, in honour of the lives lost tragically in Nova Scotia last weekend.
• The head of a partnership that works with and advocates for people with disabilities is appealing for a change to Fraser Health policy around COVID-19 hospital protocols.
• B.C. Premier John Horgan is hesitant about implementing stricter ferry restrictions and is hopeful it will be unnecessary by the time the May long weekend rolls around.
• An Abbotsford judge has ruled that COVID-19 is not a “get-out-of-jail-free card” for inmates using it as an argument to be released from prison.
• The modest community of Aldergrove has been thrust into the limelight after a truck driver was denied walk-up service at one of its Tim Horton’s drive-thrus.
• More than 160 members of parliament have pledged to donate their annual pay raise to charity amid questions surrounding why the legislated salary boost wasn’t cancelled due to COVID-19.
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