On the one-year anniversary since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in British Columbia, more than 400 new cases have been identified province-wide.
British Columbia health officials reported 485 new cases – including 45 in Island Health – and four deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.
The number of confirmed cases in B.C. climbs to 65,719 while the province’s death toll now stands at 1,172.
Of the new cases, 115 were recorded in Vancouver Coastal Health, 210 were in Fraser Health, 45 in Island Health, 83 in Interior Health, and 32 in Northern Health.
There are currently 4,299 active cases in the province, 303 people in hospital — 74 of whom are in intensive care — and 6,520 people under active public health monitoring due to possible exposure to an identified case.
A total of 58,778 people in B.C. have recovered from COVID-19 and 124,365 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across, 4,160 of which are second doses.
Today’s data was released by health officials in a statement to the media.
Island Health
According to the latest data provided by Island Health, there are currently 204 active cases on Vancouver Island – an increase of nine cases since the last update on Jan. 26.
Of the active cases, 22(+15) are on southern Vancouver Island, 157 (+4) on central Vancouver Island and 14 (-2) on northern Vancouver Island.
Over the course of the pandemic, the Island Health region has reported 1,521 cases – 438 in south Island, 807 in central Island, and 276 in north Island.
Island Health says their figures somewhat differ from the figures released by the provincial government due to “differences in timing of reporting across laboratory and public health data sources.”
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.
Source: Island Health
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.
Nicholas Pescod
