B.C. health officials areadvising people to stop all non-essential travel outside of Canada, including to the U.S. Those who do travel outside the country will have to self-quarantine for 14 days on return.
The province is also advising that all gatherings of more than 250 people be cancelled. However, schools will not be closed at this time.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry made the announcement at a news conference at the B.C. legislature on Thursday.
"This is our best advice today," she said.
Henry also announced seven new cases of COVID-19 in B.C. None of them are on Vancouver Island.
The new cases bring the total in B.C. to 53. One person has died, and six have recovered and are no longer infectious to others. One person is in hospital.
Among the new cases is a man in his 90s at Hollyburn House care home in West Vancouver and two care workers who work there.
The other four new cases are in the Vancouver Coastal Health area.
On Wednesday, Henry announced the Island's first presumptive case of COVID-19, a man in his 60s who recently travelled to Egypt.
Presumptive cases are ones with an initial positive test result that still has to be confirmed by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. That case has now been confirmed.
