The B.C. government has announced 556 new coronavirus cases, including 16 in the Interior Health region.
The new cases bring the province’s total since the pandemic began to 88,929, although the vast majority have already recovered. There are 4,999 active cases in B.C. right now with 280 people hospitalized, 84 of whom are in intensive care.
There were no new COVID-19 deaths reported Tuesday.
There have been 116 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern identified in our province in the last day, for a total of 996 cases. Of the total cases, 130 are active and the remaining people have recovered. This includes 921 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 41 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant and 34 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant.
To date, 424,517 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,070 of which are second doses. Vaccine appointment bookings are open for people over 83, adding one year each day this week for people 80 and older by the end of the week, along with Indigenous peoples over 65.
“We are all excited to get our COVID-19 vaccine, as not only do they provide protection, but also bring hope and renewal for all of us,” said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry in a news release.
“Every person who receives a vaccine makes all of us safer, which is why teams are working hard to ensure every drop of available vaccine supply gets into arms as soon as possible. Already, we have been able to accelerate availability for older citizens and we hope to be able to continue to push forward at this pace.”
