Health officials are reporting an outbreak of COVID-19 at a Tim Hortons in Merritt at 3340 River Ranch Road.

Interior Health says the restaurant has voluntarily closed and there is no risk to the public at this time.

“We appreciate Tim Hortons efforts and cooperation in managing this situation,” IHA spokesperson Karl Hardt said in an email. “The business has appropriate precautions in place to prevent COVID-19 transmission to the public and our investigation has determined that there was no COVID-19 exposure to the general public.”

At this time, its unclear how many people are affected as Interior Health says it will not be releasing that number for privacy reasons because of the size of the community.

Hardt though says people with confirmed cases are isolating and contact tracing is underway.

“Interior Health will increase testing capacity in Merritt to address any possible additional demands. It is important to stress that testing is not required if you do not have symptoms of COVID-19,” he added.

“People can take the self-assessment test on the B.C. CDC website, call 811, or contact the local testing centre at 250-378-3407 to find out if they need a test.”

He adds there is no evidence that COVID-19 is spread through food made by infected people.

“COVID-19 is spread from person-to-person through respiratory droplets,” Hardt said. “There is a theoretical risk that a person infected with COVID-19 could spread the virus by sneezing on food or by directly touching food with their hands. However, there have been no cases reported of such transmission with COVID-19. ”

News of this outbreak comes as B.C. reported 155 new COVID-19 cases today – three of which were in the Interior Health Authority, for a provincial total of 11,189 cases, 590 in the Interior.

There are 28 active cases in the Interior, with two people in hospital. Provincewide, there are 72 people in hospital, of which 26 are in ICU. Health officials also reported one new death taking the COVID-19 death toll to 251 people.

Interior Health also notes there are still three cases linked to an outbreak at the FedEx depot at Kelowna Airport that was reported yesterday.

The active case count across the province has increased to 1,513 people, with a further 3,713 people being actively monitored by public health team after being exposed to someone with a known case of the virus.

A total of 9,387 people – about 84 per cent – are considered to have recovered from COVID-19.