Nearly 1,500 more British Columbians were diagnosed as being infected with COVID-19 in the past three days, raising the provincial total of viral infections to 80,672, since the first case was detected in January 2020.
The daily totals of new cases (532, 508 and 438 in sequential order) were all within the range seen in the past week. Other metrics to track the virus' spread were also well within recent ranges.
Of the 4,464 known active cases, 236 people are in hospital, with 65 of those sick enough to be in intensive care units.
Eight more people have died from the virus, raising the province's death toll from the virus to 1,363.
Almost 92.7%, or 74,776 people, of those infected are said to be recovered because they have tested negative for the virus twice. Health officials are closely monitoring another 8,210 people because they have had known exposure to identified cases.
Health officials provided 23,308 new doses of the vaccine over the weekend, with 13,339 of those doses being the recipient's first dose and 9,969 being the recipient's second dose.
In total, 191,904 British Columbians have had one dose, while another 83,777 have had two doses.
Here is the breakdown of where the 1,478 new cases are located:
• 327 in Vancouver Coastal Health (22.1%);
• 857 in Fraser Health (58%);
• 88 in Island Health (6%);
• 92 in Interior Health (6.2%); and
• 114 in Northern Health (7.7%).
"There have been 42 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern in our province, for a total of 158 cases," provincial health officer Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a joint statement. "This includes 137 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant and 21 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant."
Of those, 148 people have recovered, and 10 individuals have active infections, they said.
Henry and Dix clarified last week that the two cases of the B.1.525 (Nigerian) variant that had been discovered in B.C. are not considered as being cases of a variant of concern. Instead, they categorize those cases as being of a variant that is under investigation, because it is not clear that B.1.525 spreads more easily, or is more deadly, than the main COVID-19 virus.
They identified one new outbreak at a seniors' home: Glacier View Lodge in Courtenay.
Three new outbreaks have been discovered at B.C. hospitals:
• Chilliwack General Hospital in Chilliwack;
• Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster; and
• Surrey Memorial Hospital in Surrey.
The good news, however, is that the outbreak at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver has been declared over.
Outbreaks have also been declared over at five seniors' homes:
• CareLife Fleetwood in Surrey;
• George Derby Centre in Burnaby;
• Eden Gardens in Nanaimo;
• Wexford Creek in Nanaimo; and
• Noric House in Vernon.
None of the eight current outbreaks at seniors' homes are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region.
The four active outbreaks at seniors' living facilities in Fraser Health are:
• CareLife Fleetwood in Surrey;
• Revera Sunwood in Maple Ridge;
• Royal City Manor in New Westminster; and
• Shaughnessy Care Centre in Port Coquitlam.
The new outbreak at Glacier View Lodge in Courtenay is the only outbreak in the Island Health region.
The only outbreak in the Northern Health region is at the Acropolis Manor in Prince Rupert.
The two active outbreaks at seniors' living facilities in Interior Health are now at Brocklehurst Gemstone Care Centre in Kamloops, and The Florentine in Merritt.
The seven B.C. hospitals with active COVID-19 outbreaks now includes:
• Chilliwack General Hospital in Chilliwack;
• Dawson Creek and District Hospital in Dawson Creek;
• Kelowna General Hospital in Kelowna;
• Mission Memorial Hospital in MIssion;
• Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster;
• Surrey Memorial Hospital in Surrey; and
• Vancouver General Hospital in Vancouver.
