“COVID-19 is a virus transmitted by people to people. And as today’s modelling shows, it is being transmitted in communities throughout B.C.”

PROVINCIAL Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minsiter Adrian Dix on Thursday announced 1,205 new COVID-19 cases, for a total of 116,075 cases in British Columbia.

There have been three new COVID-19-related deaths, for a total of 1,524 deaths in the province.

There are 10,052 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 16,217 people under public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases. A further 104,331 people who tested positive have recovered.

Of the active cases, 409 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 125 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.

There have been 301 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 730 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 38 in the Island Health region, 69 in the Interior Health region, 66 in the Northern Health region and one new case of a person who resides outside of Canada.

The outbreak at Chartwell Langley Gardens is now over.

Henry and Dix said: “1,235,863 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,899 of which are second doses.

“COVID-19 is a virus transmitted by people to people. And as today’s modelling shows, it is being transmitted in communities throughout B.C.

“It is important to keep in mind that of the people we are seeing every day – whether at work, running errands or outside – someone is likely to have COVID-19. The more people we see, the higher that likelihood will be. That is why staying small and staying local is key right now.

“Despite higher case counts, our province can bend our curve back down. We have done it before and know how to protect ourselves, our families, our workplaces and our communities. Making the effort to have less contact with people outside our household will put us back on the path where we want and need to be. It is a small effort that has a big result.

“We continue to make progress on our vaccine rollout with more than 45,000 people in B.C. receiving their first dose in the last 24 hours. People aged 55 and older can go to their local participating pharmacy to receive their AstraZeneca shot. People 64 and older and Indigenous peoples 18 and over, as well as individuals who have received a ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ letter, can book through the Get Vaccinated program.

“The evidence is clear. The vaccines are working and are now providing protection from severe illness and death to many people. Let’s continue on this path and put all of our collective efforts into stopping the spread so we can all put COVID-19 behind us.”