British Columbia is reporting 465 new cases of COVID-19 for the entire province with six additional deaths in that span.
Of the 465 new cases, 27 are linked to the Island Health region.
There are currently 4,447 active cases in British Columbia, while 6,943 residents remain under active public health monitoring.
Dr. Bonnie Henry says that 257 are in hospital – a decrease of 21 since Feb. 4 – with 76 people in critical care as a result of the virus (a decrease of four).
Since Wednesday’s numbers, there have been 98 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 234 in the Fraser Health region, 27 in the Island Health region, 54 in the Interior Health region, 52 in the Northern Health region and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.
There were six additional deaths related to the virus on Thursday. This brings the provincial death total over the course of the pandemic to 1,240.
Also as of Thursday, the total number of cases in British Columbia over the course of the pandemic has reached 69,245.
Health officials also said that 145,567 people have received a COVID-19 vaccine in B.C, 8,097 of which are second doses.
Some positive news was released by B.C. health officials as in their daily report, they indicated that the COVID-19 outbreak at Chartwell Malaspina Care Residence in Nanaimo has been declared over.
“As we make plans for the weekend ahead, let’s ensure we don’t make the Super Bowl a super spreading day, by making safe choices,” reads a joint statement from Dr. Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix. “This is especially important given we are still learning about the full impact of the variants of concern now in our communities.”
Health officials do highlight that the curve in B.C. is slowly moving in the downward direction and are continuing to encourage the province to “keep our wall strong and show compassion and kindness to those around us.”
Thursday’s case update comes the same day that the Province announced an update to the safety regulations within K-12 schools, implementing mandatory masks for middle and secondary students and increased cleaning protocols, among other things.
Island Health
According to the latest data provided by Island Health, there are currently 234 active cases on Vancouver Island.
Of the active cases, 57 are on southern Vancouver Island, 168 on central Vancouver Island and nine 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 1,739 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 104.7 million. More than 2.28 million deaths have been recorded.
More to come.
Graham Cox
