Canada reports first coronavirus death as officials confirm millions of stockpiled face masks have expired
- Deceased was elderly man at North Vancouver nursing home who had no recent travel history
- Number of infections in country has jumped to 71, officials say
Canada on Monday reported its first death from the coronavirus as the number of people in the nation who have contracted the disease jumped to above 70, officials said.
The dead man had been living in a nursing home, the Lynn Valley Care Centre in North Vancouver, British Columbia’s chief health officer Bonnie Henry told a news conference.
“We unfortunately have had a death here in British Columbia,” Henry said. The man was one of two residents at the long-care facility with no recent travel history. Henry said the dead man was in his 80s and had a number of underlying medical conditions.
The news came as officials in Ontario, on the other side of the country, confirmed that millions of face masks stockpiled years ago in case of a future epidemic had already expired, raising questions about the readiness of Canada’s most populous province to deal with the spreading coronavirus.
Canada now has at least 71 presumptive and confirmed cases of the virus that causes the respiratory illness Covid-19, up from 51 on Friday and nine more than reported on Sunday.