COVID-19 update: B.C. reports 17 deaths over 72 hours, another drop in hospitalizations

British Columbia recorded another 17 deaths related to COVID-19 over the weekend, as the number of test-positive patients in hospital continued to decline.

The latest fatalities pushed the province's seven-day average for COVID-19 deaths down to about eight per day – a significant drop from last Monday, when it reached a 13-month high of 13 per day.

The average still remains much higher than it was at the beginning of 2022, when it spent more than a week hovering around a single death per day.

More than half of the weekend's fatalities came from the Interior Health region, which reported nine deaths related to the disease. Vancouver Coastal Health reported three COVID-19 deaths, Northern Health and Island Health each reported two, and Fraser Health reported one.

Meanwhile, the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 fell to 803 on Monday, a drop of 43 from last week, according to the Ministry of Health. That total includes patients whose coronavirus infection is serious enough to require hospitalization, as well as those who tested positive incidentally after being admitted for other reasons.

The number of patients in intensive care also dropped to 119, down from 136 on Friday.

B.C.'s data continues to show being vaccinated against COVID-19 reduces the risk of catching the disease, and of ending up in hospital as a result.

Between Feb. 4 and 10, the unvaccinated caught COVID-19 at a rate of 335.4 per 100,000 population after adjusting for age, according to the Ministry of Health. The fully vaccinated caught COVID-19 at a rate of 146.9 per 100,000.

Between Jan. 28 and Feb. 10, the unvaccinated were hospitalized at a rate of 84.1 per 100,000 after adjusting for age, compared to 16.9 per 100,000 among the fully vaccinated.

So far, 90.4 per cent of eligible B.C. residents age five and older have received at least one shot, and 85.3 per cent have received two. Among B.C. adults, 55.3 per cent have also received a third dose or booster shot.

Officials had no new COVID-19 outbreaks to report in health-care facilities on Monday, and said eight have been declared over. That leaves 39 active outbreaks across the health-care system, most in long-term care homes.

Many of those who have died during the pandemic have been residents of care homes and assisted living facilities.

The Ministry of Health also announced 2,701 new cases of COVID-19, but said the weekend numbers are provisional due to "system-wide downtime." Daily case numbers are not considered representative of COVID-19 transmission in the province anyway, as officials no longer recommend testing for most people.

On Tuesday, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix are expected to share an update on COVID-19 restrictions in B.C. CTV News will be streaming the event live at 1:30 p.m.