Vancouver city council voted unanimously Thursday to declare an official state of emergency in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic .

The declaration follows similar actions from cities such as Calgary and provinces such as British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

Its a response to the growing global pandemic of the novel coronavirus, which causes a respiratory disease called COVID-19. As of March 19, there are over 240,000 confirmed cases worldwide and nearly 10,000 deaths from the disease.

In Canada, over 800 people have tested positive with 12 confirmed deaths.