VANCOUVER - British Columbia's provincial health officer is ordering all salons, spas, and tattoo parlours to close in the latest measure aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.
Dr. Bonnie Henry also encouraged people to spend time outside, but only with members of the same household.
Henry announced 76 new cases of COVID-19 in the province on Saturday, bringing the total to 424, as well as another death linked to the Lynn Valley long-term care home in North Vancouver.
She says there are 27 people in hospital, 12 of whom are in intensive care, and six people have recovered.
She says while most people who have tested positive for COVID-19 are older, there is a cluster of people in their 30s and 40s — mostly health-care workers related to outbreaks in the Vancouver area.
There are also 20 cases associated with a dental conference that took place in Vancouver in early March.
Henry says the province is exploring options for delivering public-health messages to young people who may feel they are not at risk of contracting the disease.
She says labs have been working through a backlog of tests results, which should be resolved by early next week. That backlog has contributed to the peak in the number of cases in the last few days.
"That's not a reflection of when people got sick. It's a reflection when the test got reported," she said, adding that people are entering self-isolation in the period between being tested and receiving the results.