B.C. health officials reported 556 new cases and no new deaths from COVID-19 since their last update on Monday.
The number of confirmed cases in B.C. climbs to 88,929 while the province’s death toll remains at 1,407.
Of the new cases, 139 were recorded in Vancouver Coastal Health, 331 were in Fraser Health, 27 in Island Health, 16 in Interior Health, and 41 in Northern Health.
There are currently 4,999 active cases in the province, 280 people in hospital — 84 of whom are in intensive care — and 9,511 people under active public health monitoring due to possible exposure to an identified case.
As for variants of concern, 116 cases were identified in the last 24 hours for a total of 996 variants of concern detected.
Of those, 130 remain active while the rest of those infected have recovered.
The majority of variants of concern have been of the B.1.1.7 variant most commonly associated with the U.K. while 41 are of the B.1.351 variant linked to South Africa, and 34 cases are linked to the P.1. variant connected to Brazil. It’s unclear how many people have been hospitalized or died from variants of concern, however, CHEK News has reached out to the province for more information.
A total of 82,436 people in B.C. have recovered from COVID-19 while 424,517 doses of vaccine have been administered province-wide.
Today’s figures were released by the province in a statement to the media.
Island Health
According to the latest information posted on the BCCDC‘s dashboard, there are currently 255 active cases on Vancouver Island, a decrease of six since Monday.
Fourteen people are in hospital, two of whom are in critical care.
A total of 695 tests for COVID-19 performed in the region over the past 24 hours.
There have been 2,788 cases, 28 deaths and 2,495 recoveries in the Island Health region since the pandemic began.
Meanwhile, Island Health reported 202 active cases on Vancouver Island in its latest dashboard update.
Of those active cases, 68 are in the South Island, 96 are in Central Island, and 38 are in the North Island.
Island Health’s data often lags behind the BCCDC’s data due to a “difference in timing of reporting across laboratory and public health data sources.”
Vaccine bookings continue
Meanwhile, vaccine bookings are continuing, this week adding one year each day for people 80 and over. For example, those over 83 were able to book on Tuesday, along with Indigenous people over 65.
“Every person who receives a vaccine makes all of us safer, which is why teams are working hard to ensure every drop of available vaccine supply gets into arms as soon as possible,” Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, and Adrian Dix, the minister of health, said in a joint statement.
To register for a vaccine appointment, those in the Island Health region can call 1-833-348-4787, 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. during their eligible timeslot.
Henry and Dix also reminded British Columbians of a health order issued specifically for St. Patrick’s Day Wednesday. Bars, pubs and restaurants will only be allowed to serve, and liquor stores open, until 8 p.m.
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Jeff Lawrence
Nicholas Pescod
