PROVINCIAL Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix on Saturday reported 2,090 new COVID-19 cases over the past two days, bringing the total number of cases in British Columbia to 102,970.

They said: “Today, we are reporting two periods: April 1 to 2, we had 1,018 cases, and in the last 24-hours, we had a further 1,072 cases. … Please note that some data are not available over the long weekend, including data on variants and hospitalizations.”

Ninety British Columbians are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.

There have been 709 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 1,052 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 147 in the Island Health region, 149 in the Interior Health region, 33 in the Northern Health region and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

To date, 856,801 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,455 of which are second doses.

Henry and Dix said: “We are working hard to deliver an easy-to-use provincial booking system for all British Columbians and know everyone is eager to book their appointment, beginning next week.

“Right now, vaccine bookings for people 72 and older, Indigenous peoples 18 and over, and individuals who are clinically extremely vulnerable continue throughout the long weekend. The AstraZeneca/COVISHEILD vaccine is also available to people between the ages of 55 and 65 on the Lower Mainland – B.C.’s highest transmission area.

“In partnership with the BC Pharmacy Association, we plan to expand the AstraZeneca vaccine program outside of the Lower Mainland by the end of next week to more communities throughout the province, including Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo, Parksville, Prince George, Quesnel, Terrace, Vernon and Victoria.

“An important reminder for everyone is that we should not be travelling outside our community or health authority for vacation or recreation right now. Cconsider day trips only or staying overnight in a local campground or hotel. We have seen too many cases of people travelling outside their health authority region and not using their layers of protection, leading to outbreaks and clusters in their home community.

“These outbreaks are avoidable, and right now we must stay within our local region – for the safety of your community and for others.”