B.C. nears 200,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 59 new cases reported in Island Health

CHEK News

Nearly 200,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in British Columbia since the start of the pandemic.

On Wednesday, provincial health officials in a press release reported 696 new COVID-19 cases, including 59 in Island Health, and six deaths since their last update on Oct. 19.

None of the new deaths recorded in the past 24 hours were in the Island Health region, according to officials.

The figures bring the number of confirmed cases in B.C. to 199,534 while the death toll climbs to 2,092. Nationally, there have been more than 1.68 million cases of the coronavirus confirmed, with British Columbia having reported the fourth highest tally of province or territory. Ontario has reported the most cases — 595,653 as of Oct. 20 — followed by Quebec and Alberta, according to figures available on Health Canada’s website.

There are currently 4,888 active cases and 370 people in hospital — 139 of whom are in intensive care — in British Columbia. Provincial health officials say there are 517 active cases in Island Health.

A total of 192,189 people in B.C. have recovered from COVID-19 while 8,088,314 doses of vaccine have been administered province-wide.

When it comes to the province’s vaccination program, 89.7 per cent of all eligible adults in B.C. have received their first dose and 84.3 per cent have received their second dose. Officials also say that 89.3 per cent of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 83.6 per cent received their second dose.

New data from the province shows that between Oct. 12 and Oct. 18, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 67.2 per cent of cases province-wide, and from Oct. 5 to Oct. 18, they accounted for 74.9 per cent of hospitalizations.

Island Health

With the announcement of 59 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, Vancouver Island has now surpased 10,000 confirmed cases of the virus since the pandemic began.

According to the latest update from Island Health, there are 413 active cases — 36 in North Island, 205 in Central Island and 172 in South Island — on Vancouver Island.

There are 52 people in the region currently in hospital with the novel coronavirus, 25 of whom are in critical care.

Over the past 24 hours, there were 1,516 new tests for COVID-19 performed and 2,399 doses of vaccine administered on Vancouver Island. Of those doses, 22 were AstraZeneca, 1,975 were Moderna and 402 doses were Pfizer.

A total of 1,341,618 vaccine doses — 645,421 are second doses and 11,396 are other doses — have been administered on Vancouver Island. This includes 34,396 doses of AstraZeneca, 379,312 doses of Moderna and 927,910 doses of Pfizer.

Since the pandemic began, there have been 10,044 cases reported, 84 deaths, 491 total hospitalizations, and 9,405 recoveries recorded on Vancouver Island.

Editor’s note: The BCCDC lists the active case count for Vancouver Island at 517, which is 104 more active cases than what Island Health has reported. There are often discrepancies between the figures due to “differences in reporting” timeframes between the two agencies.

npescod@cheknews.ca

Nicholas Pescod

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