VANCOUVER -- Health officials opted Tuesday to renew a record-breaking state of emergency for the 16th time.

The declaration was first made March 18, and applies to the entire province of B.C.

A state of emergency grants officials "extraordinary powers" in their efforts to respond to the emergency in question – in this case COVID-19.

States of emergency have also been declared over natural disasters such as wildfires.

In B.C., they cannot be issued for a period of more than two weeks.

The current state of emergency will last to the end of the day on Oct. 28.

Prior to the pandemic, B.C's longest-ever state of emergency was in 2017, during the wildfire season.

In that case, it lasted 10 weeks.

The declaration prompted by novel coronavirus has been in place in B.C. for 30 weeks, as of Tuesday's extension.