B.C.’s top doctor is recommending that people stay at home over the spring break and avoid travel outside of Canada.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says the coronavirus situation is rapidly evolving, and she’s asking anyone who’s returning from China or Iran to self-isolate and call their healthcare provider.

“Particularly travel is a risk right now, so anybody who’s travelled who has even a mild symptom, we’re asking them to stay home,” she said.

“If it develops into a cough or a fever, things that are more related with COVID-19 or if you know you’ve been in contact with somebody who has this, those are the people that we want to ensure get tested.”

The province announced eight new cases of COVID-19 today – all in Metro Vancouver – bringing the total number of cases in the province up to 21. It included the first community transmission case where a woman in the Vancouver area had no contact with any of the 20 other people who’ve tested positive so far.

She was identified through ongoing influenza testing.

“For many people, they might have a very mild illness, they might not be at risk and this will go away, and we don’t necessarily need to have them tested,” Henry noted.

“So I’m not saying that we should be screening out. So if clinicians are concerned about it, if somebody is sick enough to go for care, and they are thinking of doing an influenza test, we want them to do a COVID-19 test as well.”

Meanwhile, Premier John Horgan and Health Minister Adrian Dix will announce a ‘government-wide response’ to the coronavirus situation tomorrow.

“Each Health Authority has set up its own emergency operations centre to plan for events should they occur in their Health Authority that are more serious that the ones we have seen up to date,” he said. “So that planning is well underway and those preparations are well underway in every health authority.”

Of B.C.’s 21 confirmed cases, just one has been identified in the Interior Health region, which happened three weeks ago.

“The health authorities have been fully integrated from the beginning and obviously, the work of health care workers is critically important at the front lines,” Dix noted.

“As we plan for the potential of more cases, we’re obviously focused on ensuring that they have the resources and the supports that they need.”

As of 5 p.m. on Thursday, there were 45 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in B.C, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec. Across the world, there are over 80 countries with cases, and more than 90,000 people infected worldwide.