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Health officials warn of COVID-19 exposure on 6 more flights

Kirsten Clarke
plane
(via BCCDC Twitter)

The BC Centre for Disease Control is alerting the public about potential COVID-19 exposure on six more flights through Vancouver.

The BCCDC says five of the flights were domestic, while one was an international flight from India.

The flights are:

  • Aug. 3: WestJet flight 720 from Vancouver to Toronto (affected rows: 4 to 10)
  • Aug. 3: WestJet flight 714 from Vancouver to Toronto (affected rows: 7 to 13)
  • Aug. 3: Air Canada flight 224 from Vancouver to Calgary (affected rows: 20 to 26)
  • Aug. 7: Air Canada flight 122 from Vancouver to Toronto (affected rows not reported)
  • Aug. 9: Air Canada flight 234 from Edmonton to Vancouver (affected rows: 2 to 4 and 12 to 15)
  • Aug. 9: Air India flight 1143 from New Delhi to Vancouver (affected rows not reported)

“Where information on affected rows is available, passengers seated in these should be considered to be at higher risk of exposure due to their proximity to the case,” reads the BCCDC public exposure webpage.

Passengers on a domestic flight with a confirmed case of COVID-19 should self-monitor for symptoms for 14 days. Anyone arriving in Canada from outside the country is required to self-isolate for 14 days under the federal Quarantine Act.

In total, 15 flights have been flagged for possible exposure to the virus so far this week.

While the majority of B.C’s new cases have been reported in people under the age of 40 – many in the 20 to 29 demographic – the province is still seeing cases from air travel, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said during Thursday’s media briefing.

“We do continue to have introductions (of COVID-19) into the province from international travel,” she said.

“Some of these are temporary foreign workers, who have come in from countries, particularly Mexico, and a number of them have become ill while in quarantine.”

Henry added that the province has been providing quarantine support to all of the temporary foreign workers coming into B.C. for two weeks, prior to them going to work on farms.

Cases also continue to be linked to Canadians returning from abroad.

“As well, we continue to have Canadians returning from other places around the world, including recently, a number of people from India, from the U.S. and we have had a number of cases related to that as well.”

A full list of flights with a confirmed case can be found on the BCCDC’s website.