COVID-19 outbreak in newborn intensive care unit of Vancouver hospital

COVID outbreak at Vancouver hospital newborn unit As B.C. deals with a recent uptick in coronavirus cases, a new outbreak has been reported at a Vancouver hospital.

Vancouver — July 17 update: Latest info on the NICU outbreak

An outbreak of COVID-19 has been declared in the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Paul's Hospital, according to an outbreak bulletin from Vancouver Coastal Health.

The bulletin, which lists ongoing and recently ended outbreaks of the coronavirus in health-care facilities around the region was updated around 3:30 p.m. Thursday. It indicates that outbreak restrictions were imposed at the facility on Thursday.

A spokesperson for Providence Health Care, which operates the hospital, said the NICU has been closed for cleaning, but the hospital's maternity unit remains operational and a satellite NICU has been opened.

Any babies born during the outbreak who need intensive care will receive it, the spokesperson said.

"There is no evidence of risk to patients elsewhere in the hospital," a statement from VCH says.

Moving forward, parents visiting their babies in NICU will be required to wear a mask and sign a visitor log, VCH said.

B.C. health officials did not announce any new outbreaks during their daily update on the virus Thursday.

Other than the new outbreak at St. Paul's, there are three ongoing outbreaks of COVID-19 at health-care facilities in B.C. Two are located in long-term care homes, while the other is in a hospital acute care unit.