British Columbia

1 dead in connection with COVID-19 outbreak at BruceJack mine

One person has died in relation to a COVID-19 outbreak at the Brucejack Mine in northwestern B.C., according to the local health authority.

Northern Health has reported 51 cases since outbreak began in February

The Brucejack minesite north of Stewart, B.C. (Pretivm Resources Inc.)

One person has died in relation to a COVID-19 outbreak at the Brucejack Mine in northwestern B.C., according to the local health authority.

Northern Health confirmed the death on Monday. It said there have been 51 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in connection with the outbreak to date, an increase from 42 since the previous update on Feb. 19.

Only one of those cases is currently considered active and the patient is self-isolating, the authority said.

The outbreak began with 22 cases on Feb. 11. 

The mine, run by Pretivm Resources, employs just under 500 people and is located north of Stewart. Restrictions on travel to and from the work camp were lifted after site-wide testing found that the large majority of positive cases were linked to a single, "limited" cluster.

With files from Betsy Trumpener