DR. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer, and Stephen Brown, Deputy Minister of Health, on Wednesday announced 158 new cases, including five epi-linked cases, of COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases to 10,892 in British Columbia.
Fortunately, there were no new COVID-19-related deaths. The total number of deaths remains at 250.

There are 1,496 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, 3,608 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and 9,112 people who tested positive have recovered.

Currently, 84 individuals are hospitalized with COVID-19, 24 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 3,941 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 5,697 in the Fraser Health region, 237 in the Island Health region, 585 in the Interior Health region, 343 in the Northern Health region and 89 cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks. The outbreak at St. Paul’s Hospital has been declared over. In total, 17 long-term care or assisted-living facilities and two acute-care facilities have active outbreaks.

There have been no new community outbreaks. However, there continue to be exposure events around the province. Public alerts and notifications are posted on the BC Centre for Disease Control’s (BCCDC) website and on all health authorities’ websites.

Henry and Brown added: “One of the best things that we can do to protect ourselves and those around us is to pay close attention to how we are feeling, by doing our own personal health check each day. This is particularly important if we have recently spent time with people outside of our household bubble or ‘safe six.’

“If you are at all feeling unwell, be the COVID-19 champion who makes the choice to stay home and stay away from others. If you have any symptoms, contact 811 or your health-care provider to arrange for testing.

“Choosing to do the right thing helps to protect all of us and keep our loved ones, our Elders and our communities safe.”