British Columbia health officials reported 640 new cases – including five in Island Health – and 24 deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday.
The number of confirmed cases in B.C. climbs to 44,103 while the province’s death toll now stands at 692.
Of the new cases reported on Wednesday, 98 were recorded in Vancouver Coastal Health, 399 were in Fraser Health, five were in Island Health, 91 were in Interior Health, and 47 were in Northern Health.
There are currently 9,950 active cases in the province, 362 people in hospital — of whom 91 are in intensive care — and 10,538 people under active public health monitoring due to possible exposure to an identified case.
A total of 32,376 people in B.C. have since recovered from COVID-19.
In a statement, the provincial government said a total of 420 doses of the new Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were administered to frontline healthcare workers in B.C. yesterday.
Today is the second day in a row where more than 20 deaths have been recorded over a 24-hour period after officials announced 21 deaths on Tuesday.
Island Health
The number of active cases continues its downward trend on Vancouver Island.
According to the latest data provided by Island Health, there are currently 82 active cases on Vancouver Island.
Of those active cases, there are 26 in southern Vancouver Island (down six cases from the previous day’s total), 36 (-1) in central Vancouver Island, and 19 (unchanged) in the northern Vancouver Island.
Since the pandemic began, the Island Health region has 799 confirmed cases of COVID-19 — 260 in the south Island, 360 in central Island and 179 in north 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.
National picture
As of Dec. 16, there are 481,630 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Canada — a roughly 140 per cent increase since mid-October, according to data available on Health Canada’s website.
Quebec has the most cases of anywhere in the country, with 169,173. The eastern province also has recorded 7,613 deaths, the highest in the country.
Indigenous Services Canada says that there are a total of 6,390 confirmed cases of the virus on First Nations reserves nationwide — 510 of those are on reserves in British Columbia — and 2,472 active cases.
When it comes to testing, British Columbia remains well-behind other many other provinces.
With a testing rate of 170,790 per 1,000,000 people, B.C. has a lower rate than Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Prince Edward Island, according to Health Canada.
Source: Health Canada
Nicholas Pescod
