COVID-19 update: B.C. adds 1,370 cases, 25 deaths over 72 hours

A pedestrian wearing a face mask to curb the spread of COVID-19 sprints across a street in Vancouver, on Monday, March 8, 2021. (Darryl Dyck / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Vancouver -

Another 1,370 cases of COVID-19 and 25 related deaths were recorded across British Columbia over the last three days, as the province reached another vaccination milestone.

A full 90 per cent of eligible residents have now received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to Monday's update from the Ministry of Health, and 85.3 per cent have received two.

The government recently announced that all eligible residents will be offered booster shots in the new year, though some – including those who received two doses of AstraZeneca – will be able to access a third dose earlier.

The latest COVID-19 numbers pushed the province's seven-day average for new infections to 540 per day, down from 575 on Friday, while the seven-day average for fatalities inched up to 7.43, from 6.71 on Friday.

Eight of the deceased lived in the Fraser Health region, seven lived in the Interior Health region and five each lived in the Northern Health and Island Health regions. Vancouver Coastal Health, which has consistently seen the lowest per capita case rates in the province in recent weeks, did not record any coronavirus-related deaths over the weekend.

Once again, Northern Health experienced the highest rate of transmission of the health authorities. The province's latest cases were distributed as follows:

• Northern Health – 203 cases, a rate of 71.4 per 100,000 population
• Fraser Health – 603 cases, a rate of 31.6 per 100,000 population
• Interior Health – 222 cases, a rate of 26.8 per 100,000 population
• Island Health – 218 cases, a rate of 25.4 per 100,000 population
• Vancouver Coastal Health – 124 cases, a rate of 10.4 per 100,000 population

Another 1,711 people recovered from COVID-19 over the weekend as well, leaving the province with 4,668 active cases, down from 4,982. That's B.C.'s lowest active caseload since Aug. 14.

The number of infectious coronavirus patients in hospital, which reached a five-month high of 436 on Friday, remained steady, but the number of those patients in ICU decreased to 140 from 156.

The unvaccinated – who make up less than 20 per cent of the province's overall population, including those too young for any of the approved vaccines – continue to be vastly over-represented in B.C.'s COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and ICU visits.

They make up 85 per cent of current critical care patients, 67.5 per cent of all hospitalizations from Oct. 15 to 28, and 58.6 per cent of all cases from Oct. 22 to 28, according to the Ministry of Health.'

Officials also announced six new health-care facility outbreaks on Monday, at Cascade Gardens, The Cedars, Hallmark on the Lake, Brocklehurst Gemstone Care Centre, Sun Point Village, and Chartwell Malaspina Care Residence.

The province is now working to contain 39 active outbreaks across the health-care system, the ministry said.