VANCOUVER -- B.C. health officials have announced six new cases of COVID-19, and in a concerning development, two of them are residents of a North Vancouver long-term care home.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said on Saturday that the residents of the Lynn Valley Care Centre were infected via a care home worker who also works at other care home facilities in Metro Vancouver.

Vancouver Coastal Health is conducting an in-depth investigation to track where else the infected employee may have worked, and the care home is following its outbreak protocol, meaning they will be curtailing the number of people moving in and out of the facility, Henry said.

The long-term care home worker was "identified as part of our community case that we talked about earlier this week," Henry said.

VCH is also doing a detailed assessment of the staff, residents and any family who may have visited. Elderly people are especially vulnerable to becoming seriously ill from COVID-19, Henry said.

Two of the six cases announced Saturday were people who had travelled to B.C. from Iran, while the final two had been passengers on the Grand Princess cruise ship that was docked off of San Francisco. There have been several other people from that same cruise ship found to have been infected in other Canadian provinces.

Henry and Adrian Dix, B.C.'s health minister, issued a strong warning to avoid cruise ships altogether at this time.

They also reiterated the importance of frequent handwashing, staying home when you are sick and disposing used tissues right away.

VIA: CTV NEWS