After some good progress in lowering the volume of new cases, British Columbia took a step backwards today, with the Friday COVID report making note of 589 new cases, a jump of just under 200 cases from yesterday.
More than half of the new cases were reported in the Fraser Health Authority region, which remains the province's hottest zone for COVID cases.
The statement from Doctor Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix was noted as provisional, owing to delayed case information, the full report of the day's findings will be posted to the BC CDC dashboard once it has been verified.
“Today, we are reporting 589 new cases, for a total of 79,262 cases in British Columbia.
There are 4,665 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 8,040 people under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases. A further 73,188 people who tested positive have recovered.
Of the active cases, 232 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 63 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.
There have been seven new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 1,355 deaths in British Columbia. We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost loved ones to COVID-19. “There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks."
Across the province, British Columbia's Health Authority regions outlined the following reports for the day:
157 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 317 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 31 in the Island Health region, 39 in the Interior Health region,
There were 45 new cases reported in the Northern Health region on Friday, that brings the total to date since January 2020 to 4,523 positive cases reported in the Northern Health region.
British Columbia recorded no new cases of COVID in the province from people who reside outside of Canada.
The pace of vaccination continues to increase, to date, 252,373 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C., 73,808 of which are second doses.
Today's review also included some welcome news on vaccines, with the British Columbia officials making note of two approvals from the Government of Canada towards expanded vaccine availability.
“Today, the Government of Canada announced the approval of two versions of a new COVID-19 vaccine – the viral vector vaccine produced by Oxford-AstraZeneca and the Verity-Serum Institute of India vaccine.
This is very encouraging news for everyone in British Columbia.
Unlike the vaccines that have been available to date, this new, two-dose viral vector vaccine has the benefit of being ‘fridge stable,’ making it much easier to transport and distribute around the province.
This new vaccine will be integrated into our provincial immunization program as delivery and supply is confirmed in the coming weeks. The additional supply will allow us to look at accelerating immunization of priority populations and essential workers.
This is another exciting and encouraging step forward for all of us. It means we have one more layer of protection available to us and are one step closer to getting through this pandemic."
No comments:
Post a Comment