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The B.C. government is temporarily moving hundreds of people sleeping in Vancouver and Victoria tent encampments into hotels and shelters to protect them from the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The move announced on Saturday will provide temporary housing for people living in Vancouver’s Oppenheimer Park, and in Topaz Park and on Pandora Avenue in Victoria. Service agencies that work with people dealing with homelessness, addiction and mental illness will run the housing and keep the sites safe and secure.

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Mike Farnworth, B.C.’s public safety minister and Solicitor General, has issued an order under the provincial state of emergency requiring people to leave the encampments by May 9. The moving starts Saturday.

The plan makes use of hotels now sitting empty because of COVID-19 travel restrictions, where the government is renting rooms for people who don’t have homes and need to self-isolate. Officials will work to keep homeless families together.