COVID-19 update: B.C. adds 109 cases, 1 related death
B.C. added another 109 cases of COVID-19 to its total on Friday in the last scheduled pandemic update of the week.
The latest infections brought the province's rolling seven-day average to 104 cases per day, the lowest it's been since Oct. 1.
Health officials also announced one additional death from COVID-19 on Friday.
Since the pandemic began, there have been 146,902 cases of the coronavirus in B.C. and 1,740 related deaths.
Friday's numbers came in a written statement from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix.
The pair also announced that B.C. has crossed the 75 per cent mark for COVID-19 vaccines administered to the eligible population.
A total of 75.1 per cent of all B.C. residents 12 and older have now received at least a first dose, as have 76.7 per cent of adults ages 18 and over.
The province has administered a total of 4,296,151 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines, including 823,371 second doses.
“Being fully vaccinated – with both doses – gives you and those around you maximum protection, which is why we encourage everyone to book your second dose as soon as you are eligible," Henry and Dix said in their statement.
“This weekend, for Father’s Day, let’s do our part and honour our fathers by protecting them with our own COVID-19 vaccine,” the pair added.
Currently, there are 1,389 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C., with 128 people hospitalized, 48 of them in intensive care units.
The number of hospitalizations declined slightly for the third consecutive day, but the number of people in ICU has increased slightly on each of those days.
Indeed, 48 people in ICU is the highest total B.C. has seen in more than a week, but it's still less than a third of the record-high 178 coronavirus patients who required intensive care in B.C. on April 29.
Most of the new cases B.C. added Friday were in the Fraser Health region, where 65 new infections were reported.
There were 26 new cases in Interior Health, 13 in Vancouver Coastal Health, five in Northern Health and none in Island Health.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Louis Gossett Jr., 1st Black man to win supporting actor Oscar, dies at 87
Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV miniseries “Roots,” has died. He was 87.
Weather alerts issued for 7 provinces, 1 territory
Warnings of up to 60 millimetres of rain and other alerts have been issued for seven Canadian provinces and one territory ahead of the Easter weekend.
He didn't trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead
Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren’t supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found.
Luxury cruise line selling world cruise suite for US$1.7 million
Luxury operator Regent Seven Seas Cruises is raising their price tag to eye-watering levels, with a suite on an upcoming 140-day world voyage costing US$1.7 million.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
A Filipino villager is nailed to a cross for the 35th time on Good Friday to pray for world peace
A Filipino villager has been nailed to a wooden cross for the 35th time to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a brutal Good Friday tradition he said he would devote to pray for peace in Ukraine, Gaza and the disputed South China Sea.
Ontario homeowner on the hook for $27,000 when contractor severed power line
An Ontario man who built a garage on his property has been locked in a battle with his electricity provider for a year and half over a severed power line.
Fluid in eye cells can 'boil' if you watch the eclipse without protection: expert
Millions of people in parts of Eastern and Atlantic Canada will be able to see the rare solar eclipse happening on April 8. But they should only look up if they have proper eye protection, experts say.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.