VANCOUVER -- Fraser Health has declared an outbreak of COVID-19 at Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock after a patient in a rehabilitation unit there tested positive for the coronavirus.

The health authority says in a statement that the outbreak is limited to one unit, which has been temporarily closed to admissions. Fraser Health says it has also implemented outbreak protocols, including enhanced cleaning and contact tracing.

All patients in the affected unit have been notified of the outbreak, Fraser Health says, adding that it has also notified the families of patients who are unable to share that information themselves.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry first announced the new outbreak during her media briefing on the pandemic Thursday.

Peace Arch is the second hospital in the Fraser Health region to have an outbreak declared in as many days. On Wednesday, the health authority announced that two patients in a medicine unit at Delta Hospital had tested positive for COVID-19.

Fraser Health says the emergency department at Peace Arch Hospital remains open and other areas of the hospital are unaffected.

The outbreaks at Peace Arch and Delta hospitals mean there are now a total of 16 active outbreaks in health-care facilities in B.C. Twelve of those outbreaks are in the Fraser Health region, which has had the largest number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the province since the pandemic began.

There are eight outbreaks in long-term care and assisted living facilities in the Fraser Health region, as well as outbreaks in acute-care units at four hospitals under the health authority's jurisdiction: Burnaby Hospital, Surrey Memorial Hospital, Delta Hospital and Peace Arch Hospital.