B.C. health officials are reporting 873 new cases of COVID-19 in the province, a drop from the average of 1,096 per day over this past weekend.
However, the numbers are preliminary and it could be adjusted because of a delay in the Public Health Reporting Data Warehouse (PHRDW) lab system.
Active cases are down slightly to 9,753 from yesterday’s 9,937 cases, with another 16,290 people being actively monitored because of an identified exposure to known cases of COVID-19. There are currently 377 people in hospital with COVID-19, 116 of whom are in intensive care
Of today’s total, there were 72 cases in Interior Health, with 512 in Fraser Health, 218 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 43 on Vancouver Island, and 28 in Northern Health.
In Interior Health, there are now 916 active cases of COVID-19, up by 16, with 24 people in hospital and 10 in ICU.
Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry says there have now been 5,221 confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern in the province, 258 of which are active. This includes 3,627 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 65 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant, and 1,529 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant.
Further, there have now been 1,148,993 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine that has been been administered in the province, 87,785 of which are second doses.
Currently, people 65 and older, Indigenous people over 19, and people who have received their ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ letter are now eligible to receive their vaccine. People between the age of 55 and 65 can also book appointments for the AstraZeneca vaccine at pharmacies throughout the province, including in Kamloops.
Earlier today, Premier John Horgan said 25 per cent of eligible B.C. residents have gotten a first dose of the COVID vaccine.
“We are adapting our vaccine delivery in step with our supply and will continue to do that moving forward,” Henry said. “If needed, we will pivot, pause or shift our delivery to maximize protection to as many people as possible.”
“Right now, the parallel worker program is focused on transmission hot spots – high-risk workplaces in our highest-risk communities. We are systematically working through the immunization of our first responders, school staff and child care workers in these communities, and in the coming weeks will expand into more communities as vaccine supplies allow.”
There were two more COVID-19 related deaths reported today for a total of 1,515 in the province.
The COVID-19 state of emergency has also been extended once again though the end of the day on April 27.
All told, there are now 102,268 people who tested positive for COVID-19 who have recovered, about 89 per cent of the total 113,702 cases in British Columbia.
