British Columbia health officials reported eight new deaths linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, including four in the Island Health region, in their latest update Friday.
The new deaths bring the provincial death toll up to 2,903, with two of the deaths occurring in Fraser Health, one in Vancouver Coastal Health, one in Interior Health and four in Island Health.
The province is also reporting an estimated 340 new cases of COVID-19 since their last update Thursday, bringing the total number of cases since the pandemic began to 349,944.
Of the new cases, 71 are in the Fraser Health region, 41 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 113 in Interior Health, 50 in Northern Health and 65 in Island Health.
The province has discontinued reporting active case counts because those numbers are now considered inaccurate given B.C.’s limited PCR testing strategy.
The number of people in hospital due to COVID-19 continues to drop, with 484 people currently hospitalized — 69 of whom are in intensive care.
The province says 86.4 per cent of all eligible people five and older have received at least two doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
There were no new health care facility outbreaks declared Friday. There are currently 20 facilities across the province experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks, including Sidney Care Home, Amica on the Gorge, Selkirk Seniors Village, Nanaimo Seniors Village, Berwick House Gordon Head, The Heights at Mt. View, Greenwoods and Parkwood Court in Island Health.
CHEK News
