B.C. health officials are reporting 711 new cases of COVID-19 heading into the first weekend of December, taking the total number of cases in the province to 36,132.
There were 81 new cases in Interior Health today with 633 active cases of the virus, 16 people in hospital, four in ICU.
Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry also reported 11 more deaths today – the eleventh straight day the province has seen double-digit deaths from the virus.
One of the deaths was a man in his 80s at Mountainview Village in Kelowna which was reported by Interior Health yesterday, though that is reflected in today’s data from the BC CDC.
Interior Health notes a third staff member at the care home has now tested positive, taking the total number of cases to four – three staff members and the senior who died.
Meanwhile, the Revelstoke cluster has grown by three cases to 49 – with 23 active cases, none in hospital. The Salmo community cluster meanwhile has been contained with 25 cases linked to several social events at the end of October and in early November.
There were 427 new cases in Fraser Health, 143 in Vancouver Coastal Health along with 10 on Vancouver Island, and 50 in Northern Health.
Active cases of COVID-19 across B.C. are now at 9,050 – down slightly from yesterday’s record of 9,103, with 338 people in hospital of which 76 are in intensive care.
“We continue to face a significant surge in community transmission and new cases of COVID-19, which means following the provincial health officer’s (PHO) orders and using all our layers of protection is necessary for every person in our province right now,” said a statement from the BC Health Ministry.
“The virus is not letting up and neither can we. This weekend, let’s stay small and stay local, so we can slow the spread of the virus in our province.”
There are another 10,957 people being actively monitored by public health teams after being exposed to someone with the virus.
“We can still be festive, we can still have fun, but let’s ensure it is only with our immediate household,” added the statement.
There are now 25,658 people who are considered to have recovered from COVID-19, roughly 71 per cent of the total.
