Island Health sees record-setting daily spike in COVID cases as officials announce 47 new

Island Health sees record-setting daily spike in COVID cases as officials announce 47 new
Province of BC
The Island Health authority has seen a record-setting daily jump in reported COVID-19 cases with 47 in the last 24 hours.

The Island Health authority has seen a record-setting daily jump in reported COVID-19 cases with 47 in the last 24 hours.

The 47 new cases being reported by B.C.’s health authorities becomes the most cases over the span of a day in the region since the start of the pandemic – surpassing the previous record of 34 cases set on January 12 and 15.

Outside of the region, British Columbia is reporting 564 new cases of COVID-19 for the entire province with 15 additional deaths in that span.

There are currently 4,450 active cases in British Columbia, while 6,816 residents remain under active public health monitoring.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says that 309 are in hospital – a decrease of 11 since Jan. 20 – with 68 people in critical care as a result of the virus (an increase of two).

Since Wednesday’s numbers, there have been 111 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 234 in the Fraser Health region, 47 in the Island Health region, 95 in the Interior Health region, 76 in the Northern Health region and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

There were 15 additional deaths related to the virus on Thursday. This brings the provincial death total over the course of the pandemic to 1,119.

Also as of Thursday, the total number of cases in British Columbia over the course of the pandemic has reached 62,976.

Health officials also said that 104,901 people have received a COVID-19 vaccine in B.C.

There were no new outbreaks reported today and the outbreak at Hart House – a long-term care home in Victoria – has been declared over.

“Despite our COVID-19 curve trending in the right direction, we continue to have new outbreaks, community clusters and high numbers of new cases. COVID-19 continues to spread widely in our communities,” reads a joint statement from Dr. Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix.

“We need to do everything we can to break the chain of transmission. Right now is the time to do that.”

Health officials opted to forgo a routine live press conference on Thursday as they prepare to update the province’s strategy for immunization against the virus.

Instead, they will join a news conference Friday with Premier John Horgan and Dr. Penny Ballem, who is leading B.C.’s COVID-19 immunization rollout.

The four are expected to comment on the next steps in the immunization program that has been complicated by a hiccup in vaccine supply from Pfizer-BioNTech.

Island Health

According to the latest data provided by Island Health, there are currently 201 active cases on Vancouver Island.

Of the active cases, 22 are on southern Vancouver Island, 157 on central Vancouver Island and 22 on northern Vancouver 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.

Over the course of the pandemic, the Island Health region has reported 1,371 cases.

Island Health - Jan. 21

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.

According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Medicine, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide is more than 97.3 million. More than 2.08 million deaths have been recorded.

Graham CoxGraham Cox

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