COVID-19 in B.C.: 87 new cases as province hits 5 days below 100
B.C. health officials announced 87 new cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, marking the fifth consecutive day the province's daily count has stayed below 100.
In a written statement, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix also announced one death related to the coronavirus.
"Our condolences are with the family, friends and caregivers of the people who have died as a result of COVID-19," Henry and Dix said in their statement.
Currently, there are 1,119 active cases of the coronavirus in B.C. That total includes 109 people who are hospitalized, 41 of them in intensive care.
Since the pandemic began, B.C. has seen 147,271 total infections and 1,744 deaths from COVID-19.
As of Wednesday, 75.8 per cent of B.C. residents ages 12 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Among adults 18 and older, the first-dose rate is 77.2 per cent.
The province has administered 4,570,153 total vaccine doses, including 1,051,910 second doses. That means 24.3 per cent of adults in B.C. are now fully vaccinated, as are 22.7 per cent of those ages 12 and older.
“We are progressing well, and we need to keep going," Henry and Dix said. "For every person who gets vaccinated, it will allow us to gradually transition and safely reopen many things that have been on hold."
The pair also cautioned that the coronavirus continues to circulate, even as daily caseloads continue to drop.
"We still have new cases from community transmission every day," they said. "That is why, whether you live in the North, on the Coast or in the Interior, we strongly encourage everyone to get fully vaccinated as soon as you are eligible."
The largest share of the new cases recorded Wednesday was found not in the Fraser Health region, which has seen the highest rates of transmission in B.C. for most of the pandemic, but in Interior Health.
There were 41 new cases in Interior Health Wednesday, compared to 30 in Fraser Health, 13 in Vancouver Coastal Health, three in Island Health and none in Northern Health.
TWO NEW CARE HOME OUTBREAKS
Dix and Henry also announced two new outbreaks of COVID-19, at Hollyburn House long-term care home in West Vancouver and at Minoru Residence in Richmond.
In separate releases earlier in the day, Vancouver Coastal Health said two people at each facility had tested positive.
Minoru Residence was the site of a deadly outbreak of the coronavirus during B.C.'s second wave. Seventy-seven people at the facility tested positive during the outbreak, which began on Dec. 21. Sixty-six of those infected were residents, and 17 of them died.
The outbreak at Hollyburn House is also the facility's second. The care home was among the first in B.C. to record a COVID-19 case back in March 2020. Only one person - a resident - tested positive in that outbreak, according to data from the provincial government. No one died.
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