VANCOUVER -- Health officials have announced another 96 cases of COVID-19 have been identified in British Columbia, along with a huge number of recoveries that have pushed the province's caseload down significantly.
An outbreak has also been declared in a unit of St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver. A statement on Providence Health Care's website says the outbreak is contained to the Urban Health unit (8A) after a COVID-19 transmission was identified.
The unit has been closed to new admissions, but the rest of the hospital, including the emergency department, remains "safe and open," according to the health authority. The hospital had previously dealt with an outbreak in the neonatal intensive care unit, which was declared over in July, less than two weeks after it was first announced.
B.C. has now recorded 8,304 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, and 1,465 of them are considered active, a decrease of about 500 since Monday.
The number of people considered to be recovered from COVID-19 increased by more than 600 to 6,589, making it the highest number of recoveries reported by provincial health officials in a single day. But the Ministry of Health says the dramatic increase can be attributed to a delay in data collection.
Vancouver Coastal Health was delayed in notifying the B.C. Centre for Disease Control about recoveries in August as the health authority transitioned to a new data collection system, according to the ministry. Health officials say the system has been implemented, and data is now up to date.
No new deaths were recorded, meaning the province's death toll remains at 227.
The number of patients in hospital increased to 61, and of those, 22 are in critical care. ​
No new community outbreaks were detected, and 12 long-term care and four acute care facilities are dealing with active outbreaks.
Tuesday's update from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry came in the form of a written statement.
"The start of fall is the time for all of us to regroup and reset our COVID-19 routines, and ready ourselves for the colder, wetter months ahead," Henry said.
"As we move inside, the activities we choose to do and the layers of protection we use need to be adjusted to ensure we are protecting ourselves, our friends and family - especially those who are most vulnerable to severe illness."
Henry added this means spending less time with people outside of our "household bubble."
On Monday, a snap election was called in B.C., meaning Health Minister Adrian Dix wasn't present at the afternoon briefing. Henry stressed the province will continue giving daily updates throughout the election, including the regular, twice-weekly live events.
Henry said the pandemic response would continue "uninterrupted" throughout the campaign.
