British Columbia reported nearly 2,000 new cases over the last 72 hours.
On Monday, Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer, announced that a total of 1,933 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in B.C. since Friday, including 48 new cases in Island Health.
Henry also said there were 17 new deaths reported during that timeframe, bringing the provincial death toll to 348.
“The majority of these people were seniors and elders in long-term care and we send our condolences and thoughts to the families and caregivers,” Henry said.
There are 7,360 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 277 people are currently in hospital, 59 of whom are in intensive care.
Of the new cases, 1,304 were in the Fraser Health region, 414 were in Vancouver Coastal Health, 104 were in Interior Health, 48 were in Island Health, 61 were in Northern Health and two were people who normally reside outside of Canada.
Eleven of the new cases were epidemiologically-linked, meaning people who were never tested but presumed to have COVID-19 because they developed symptoms and were close contacts of a laboratory-confirmed case.
Furthermore, there are 10,200 people under active public health monitoring while 19,069 people have recovered from COVID-19.
Within the Island Health region, there are 152 active cases of COVID-19: 100 in central Vancouver Island, 40 in southern Vancouver Island, and 12 in northern Vancouver Island.
There were also six healthcare facility outbreaks, however, there were no new community outbreaks reported over the last 72 hours.
During Monday’s update, Henry stressed that British Columbians must find a way to dramatically reduce the level of transmission within the coming weeks.
“Over the next two weeks, we need to urgently reduce the level of transmission in our province to keep our schools and workplaces open,” she said.
B.C.’s top doctor also urged people to reduce their social interactions by not having BBQs, play dates and other types of gatherings. She also ordered all events at hotels, restaurants, bars, movie theatres, including the Butchart Gardens light display, suspended.
“I understand that this pandemic is tiring and the orders make it more difficult. We don’t want to have to have these things in place, but right now we need to focus on today,” said Henry.
The latest COVID-19 figures for Vancouver Island released by Island Health on Monday. (Source: Island Health)
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