B.C. health officials announced 514 new cases of COVID-19 and five more deaths on Friday and said all residents and caregivers at long-term care facilities have now been offered a vaccine.
There are now 4,557 active cases in the province. A total of 292 people are in hospital, with 74 in intensive care.
During Friday’s briefing, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry confirmed seven cases associated with the COVID variant first seen in the U.K. variant and four cases associated with the strain first identified in South Africa.
There is one new outbreak at a health-care facility, for a total of 25 outbreaks in long-term care facilities. An outbreak at Little Mountain Place in Vancouver that killed dozens of residents has now been declared over.
A total of 124,979 people in B.C. have now received a vaccine, with 4,262 of those being second doses.
Although she is “tremendously relieved” that vaccines have now been offered to every long-term care facility, Henry said vaccine supply is proving to be a challenge.
Pfizer is offering reduced numbers of doses for the next two weeks and today, B.C. learned the Moderna vaccine supply will also be reduced by 20 per cent for the next two weeks, due to issues at its processing plant.
Henry and Adrian Dix, B.C.’s minister of health, are currently providing an update on the coronavirus pandemic in B.C.
You can watch the livestream here or on the CBC Vancouver Facebook page.
On Thursday, there were 546 new cases of COVID-19 and 12 more deaths from the novel coronavirus. There are currently 4,455 active cases of coronavirus in the province, with 291 people in hospital, 75 of them in intensive care.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 1,184 people have died of COVID-19 in B.C.
So far, 127,255 people have received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with 4,185 of those being second doses.
On Friday morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced tougher restrictions to discourage international travel.
He said, beginning Sunday, major Canadian airlines will be suspending service to some sun destinations, including the Caribbean and Mexico until April 30.
Starting Feb.3, all international passenger, private and charter flights, including from the U.S., will land in only four Canadian cities: Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal.
He said the federal government will also be introducing mandatory PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing at the airport for people returning to Canada “as soon as possible in the coming weeks.”
Travellers entering Canada will have to quarantine at a government-approved hotel at their own expense as they wait for their test results.
