VANCOUVER British Columbia recorded another 1,236 cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, pushing the provincial total past 70,000. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry also announced 13 more deaths related to the disease at her coronavirus briefing on Monday. Our condolences go out to those families and caregivers and communities that have lost loved ones again this weekend, Henry said. The province has now recorded a total of 70,952 infections and 1,259 deaths since the start of the pandemic. The latest count includes 40 confirmed cases of the U.K. and South African COVID-19 variants, five of which are not connected to international travel. Only three of the 40 identified variant cases are currently active, and health officials said they re confident the majority of cases did not lead to any further transmission.
Health Minister Adrian Dix told media that when new hospital beds that the province has added during the pandemic are taken into consideration, B.C. s hospital occupancy rate is 70.4%. When new ICU beds are taken into consideration, the province s ICUs are at 52% occupancy. The number of people known to be carrying the virus in B.C. has also been on the decline. There are now 3,976 people who have been infected and have not yet tested negative multiple times, which is the process for considering people as having recovered. That is the lowest total since November 6, when there were 3,741 people with active infections. Given that B.C. had a record 10,039 people with active infections on December 14, that metric has fallen considerably.
by Craig Takeuchi on February 5th, 2021 at 4:30 PM 1 of 3 2 of 3
One day after B.C. announced expanded health measures for schools, B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry appeared at a news conference to speak about why she is extending provincial health orders throughout February.
She explained that while there are encouraging signs of progress in B.C., there are still some areas of particular concern as well as unpredictable factors such as the presence of variants and vaccine supplies.
However, she said she will continue to monitor the situation throughout the month to see if restrictions can be lifted or if more restrictions need to be added.
The recent trend of fewer people in B.C. being hospitalized with COVID-19 complications continued on February 5, with the province now having 253 individuals in those institutions – four . . .
VICTORIA Two COVID-19 outbreaks in the Mid-Island have been declared over, Island Health announced Thursday. The outbreaks were located at Chartwell Malaspina Care Residence and the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (NRGH). The outbreak at Chartwell Malaspina was declared more than one month ago on Dec. 27. The virus spread to a total of seven residents and two staff members during that time, and claimed the lives of two residents. Now that the outbreak has been declared over, social visits are being permitted again, as well as admissions and transfers to the facility. Within the care home, congregate dining has also been allowed to restart with regular COVID-19 safety protocols in place.