“The virus is still spreading with new cases and clusters”

PROVINCIAL Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix on FRiday announced 317 new COVID-19 cases, for a total of 143,581 cases in British Columbia.

There have been two new COVID-19-related deaths, for a total of 1,692 deaths in the province.

There are 3,441 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and a further 138,360 people who tested positive have recovered.

Of the active cases, 292 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 79 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.

There have been 73 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 163 new cases in the Fraser Health region, five in the Island Health region, 60 in the Interior Health region, 16 in the Northern Health region and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

There is one new outbreak at Brookside Lodge (Fraser Health).

Henry and Dix said: “3,106,269 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 160,885 of which are second doses. This means 67.2% of all adults and 62.7% of those aged 12 and older have now received their first dose.

“This has been a milestone week in B.C.’s COVID-19 pandemic response. Our restart plan began, our surgical renewal strategy resumed and we have started the accelerated delivery of second doses to people throughout the province.

“We have a roadmap and now we must stick to the path: doing what we can to further slow the spread of COVID-19 and break the chains of transmission in our communities.

“The virus is still spreading with new cases and clusters, which is why using our layers of protection and getting vaccinated – especially in this time of transition – is so important.

“We are moving to a different and better place for all of us, so let’s continue to do our part to get there as soon as we can. Together, we will restart B.C. and put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us.”