B.C. COVID-19 update: health officials announce 624 new cases, active cases drop in Island Health

B.C. COVID-19 update: health officials announce 624 new cases, active cases drop in Island Health
Province of British Columbia
Dr. Bonnie Herny, B.C.'s PHO provides a COVID-19 update

In Friday’s written COVID-19 update, British Columbia reports 624 new confirmed cases and 11 more deaths since Thursday.

Four of the new cases are epidemiologically linked, bringing the province’s COVID-19 total to 45,400 cases.

In the past 24 hours, five people on Vancouver Island have tested positive for the virus.

Right now, the BCCDC’s COVID-19 dashboard shows 62 active cases on the Island, a drop from yesterday’s 76 active cases.

The total active cases in B.C. is also down. Currently, there are 9,978 active cases in the province, down from 10,009 yesterday. In B.C., there are 356 people in hospital, 92 of whom are in intensive care.

So far, 33,586 people have recovered from COVID-19 in B.C. and 10,211 people are currently under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases.

Of B.C.’s new cases, five are in Island Health, 106 are in the Vancouver Coastal Health Region, 406 in Fraser Health, 60 in the Interior and 47 more people have tested positive for the virus in the Northern Health region.

The ministry confirms 11 people have passed away in the past 24 hours due to COVID-19, bringing the province’s number of total deaths to 724.

There are no new healthcare facility outbreaks, but one community outbreak has been declared at the Rossdown Natural Foods.

Health Minister Adrian Dix says 1,376 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were given to B.C. front-line health-care workers yesterday, for a total of 2,592 doses.

“The focus of our immunization program right now is to safely protect as many people as possible as efficiently as we can, but we have to remember that this is a global effort with many aspects often changing. As more vaccine arrives in the coming weeks, we all need to be patient and continue to follow public health orders to keep our communities safe,” said Dix.

There was no live update today but with the holidays approaching, our top doctor is urging everyone to connect in a virtual way this year.

“With the holiday season here, we are all looking to find creative and safe ways to connect with our families, friends and loved ones. For many, that means getting together virtually over a meal, watching holiday movie favourites or discovering new ways to connect safely from afar, such as a holiday bake-off over video conference or hosting an online games night or scavenger hunt with friends,” said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

Island Health announced earlier on Friday that two of the new cases of COVID-19 are related to the outbreak at the Saanich Peninsula Hospital, one staff and one patient.

READ MORE: Two additional COVID-19 cases linked to Saanich Peninsula Hospital outbreak

This page will be updated with more information as it is released. 

Rebecca LawrenceRebecca Lawrence

Recent Stories

Send us your news tips and videos!