British Columbia is reporting 1,262 new cases of COVID-19 for the entire province with two additional deaths in that span.
B.C. has now reported 2,555 new COVID-19 cases in the last 48 hours after hitting a record number of new cases on Thursday with 1,293.
Of the 1,262 new cases, 54 are linked to the Island Health region. As far as the Island numbers go, Island Health has now reported 123 new cases in the past 48 hours.
There are currently 9,574 active cases in British Columbia (an increase of 390 from April 8), while 15,673 residents remain under active public health monitoring.
Dr. Bonnie Henry says that 332 are in hospital – a decrease of 4 since April 8 – with 101 people in critical care as a result of the virus (an increase of one).
Since Thursday’s numbers, there have been 358 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 638 in the Fraser Health region, 54 in the Island Health region, 132 in the Interior Health region, 79 in the Northern Health region and one new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.
There were two additional deaths related to the virus on Friday. This brings the provincial death total over the course of the pandemic to 1,495.
There have been a total of 4,111 cases of COVID-19 variants of concern in our province.
Of the total cases, 105 are active and the remaining people have recovered. This includes 3,082 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 55 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant and 974 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant.
Also as of Friday, the total number of cases in British Columbia over the course of the pandemic has reached 98,336.
Health officials also said that British Columbia surpassed a milestone mark on Friday in regards to the vaccination program. To date, 1,025,019 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the province passing the one-million mark. Of the total doses administered, 87,606 have been second doses.
“This is a significant milestone for all of us, and we will continue to work to get vaccines into arms as soon as we can,” reads a joint statement from Dr. Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix. “Today, people 65 and older, Indigenous peoples 18 and over, and individuals who have received their ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ letter may register for their vaccine.”
The government is currently urging any British Columbia to get tested even if they have mild symptoms of COVID-19.
“This is how we will slow the spread and get ahead of the virus strains that are in our communities right now.”
Island Health
According to the latest data provided by Island Health, there are currently 508 active cases on Vancouver Island.
Of the active cases, 270 are on southern Vancouver Island, 212 on central Vancouver Island and 26 on northern Vancouver Island.
Southern Vancouver Island includes the Greater Victoria region, Southern Gulf Islands and the Port Renfrew area.
Central Vancouver Island includes the Cowichan Valley, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Port Alberni and Tofino areas.
Northern Vancouver Island goes from the Comox Valley to Port Hardy but also includes surrounding areas like Alert Bay and Sointula.
Over the course of the pandemic, the Island Health region has reported 3,854 cases.
More COVID-19 information
If there is a confirmed COVID-19 case in a school, public health contacts affected school community members directly. Regional health authorities also post-school notifications on their websites, providing the date and type of notification (outbreak, cluster or exposure) for impacted schools.
The Island Health school site can be found here.
Provincial mental health and anxiety support can be found at www.bouncebackbc.ca
Island Health’s COVID-19 data breaks down North, Central and South Island case counts and lists the number of days since any new lab-diagnosed cases. You can find the data here along with any public exposures.
According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Medicine, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide is more than 134.3 million. More than 2.9 million deaths have been recorded.
Graham Cox
