509 new COVID-19 cases and 9 more deaths in B.C.

DR. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, on Friday announced 509 new cases of COVID-19, including nine epi-linked cases, for a total of 60,117 cases in British Columbia.

There have been nine new COVID-19-related deaths, for a total of 1,047 deaths in the province.

To date, 75,914 people have received a COVID-19 vaccine in B.C.

There are 4,604 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. There are 349 individuals currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 68 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.

Currently, 7,132 people are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and a further 53,115 people who tested positive have recovered.

There have been 101 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 260 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 13 in the Island Health region, 86 in the Interior Health region, 49 in the Northern Health region and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

There has been one new health-care facility outbreak at Hilltop House. The outbreaks at Villa Cathay and Wingtat Game Bird Packers are now over.

Henry and Dix added: “People throughout British Columbia are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

“As of today, thousands of people working and living in long-term care homes, health-care workers and those in remote or at-risk Indigenous communities have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“We are disappointed to hear today there will be a short-term delay in the delivery of some of the Pfizer vaccines to British Columbia in the coming weeks as the company upgrades its production facility. We are working closely with the federal government to determine how this might impact our immunization rollout in the immediate term, and we will have more to share in the coming days.

“We must never forget how far we have come by working together. Over the past months, we have all made sacrifices for the health of our families and communities, and now more than ever we need to hold the line and stop transmission of COVID-19 as our vaccination program ramps up.”