VANCOUVER -- Seventeen more flights have been added to British Columbia’s list of possible COVID-19 exposures.

The additions, which were posted on April 2 and 3, come as the province reports its highest daily increase in new cases and as Canada reaches a grim milestone of more than one million recorded cases.

The most recent flights added to the list either took off from or landed at a Vancouver airport between March 25 and April 1. Only two of the flights were international.

Between Monday, March 29 and Sunday, April 4 the centre has added a total of 52 flights on which there was a person with a confirmed case of COVID-19. Of those 52 flights, only 4 were international flights, which means that the vast majority – or 92 per cent – of coronavirus flight exposures posted for B.C. over the past week were domestic.

Details of the newly added flights follow.

  • March 25: Philippine Airlines 116, Manila to Vancouver
  • March 26: Air Canada 123, Toronto to Vancouver
  • March 26: Air Canada 124, Vancouver to Toronto
  • March 27: Air Canada 115, Toronto to Vancouver
  • March 27: WestJet 3287, Vancouver to Prince George
  • March 28: Air Canada 115, Toronto to Vancouver
  • March 28: Air Canada 8211, Vancouver to Prince George
  • March 28: Pacific Coastal 8P863, Vancouver to Port Hardy
  • March 28: Air Canada/Jazz 8550, Vancouver to Regina
  • March 29: WestJet 139, Calgary to Vancouver
  • March 29: Air Canada 233, Edmonton to Vancouver
  • March 30: Air Canada 7, Vancouver to Hong Kong
  • March 30: Air Canada 103, Toronto to Vancouver
  • March 30: Air Canada /Jazz 8543, Regina to Vancouver
  • March 31: Air Canada 115, Toronto to Vancouver
  • April 1: Air Canada 103, Toronto to Vancouver
  • April 1: Air Canada 8413, Kelowna to Vancouver

The BCCDC says anyone who was on any of the listed flights should self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19, and seek testing and self-isolate if any develop.

Travellers arriving in Canada on international flights are required to self-isolate for 14 days, the first three of which must be spent in a government-approved quarantine hotel awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test taken upon landing.

International travellers bound for Canada are also required to provide proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test before being allowed to board their flights.

No such restrictions exist for domestic travellers, though health officials across the country have been advising against non-essential travel for months.

B.C. health officials do not directly contact everyone who was on a plane with a case of COVID-19 on board. Instead, notifications are posted on the BCCDC website.
 

Correction:

This story has been updated from an earlier version to include a batch of flights announced by the BCCDC on April 2, which had previously been missed. With the addition of those flights, the percentage that were domestic is now 92 per cent, which is four percentage points higher than the total included in the original version of this story.