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B.C. health officials have announced new measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, including a ban on gatherings of over 250 people and a plea for people to stop all non-essential travel outside of Canada, including to the United States.

“What we’re saying to people is: Don’t go,” said Health Minister Adrian Dix. “Certainly this is part of our obligation to one another. Buy a litre of milk in White Rock and not a quart of milk in Bellingham.”

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“The world has changed,” the provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, told the daily update on COVID-19 in B.C. “It’s become apparent that this is a rapidly changing situation. While it hasn’t changed a lot here in B.C., the risk has increased all around us.”

Still, the number of cases continued to creep up in B.C. For the third consecutive day, seven new COVID-19 cases were announced on Thursday, bringing the B.C. total to 53.

Three of the new cases are two care workers and a resident in his 90s of a West Vancouver retirement home, Hollyburn House. None has been hospitalized, but the resident is in isolation at Hollyburn, while the workers in isolation at home.