B.C. recorded 1,236 new cases of COVID-19, and 13 deaths, over the weekend, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said during a press conference Monday (Feb. 8).
By day, the breaks down to 428 cases recorded Saturday, 465 cases reported Sunday and 343 cases on Monday, and five epi-linked cases. There are a total of 3,976 active cases currently, with 6,900 people under public health monitoring.
By region, the three-day total breaks down to 266 cases in Vancouver Coastal Health, 601 cases in Fraser Health, 152 cases in Interior Health, 86 cases in Island Health and 131 cases in Northern Health.
There have been a total of 70,952 cases of COVID-19 in B.C. since the pandemic began, of whom 65,605 have recovered. There are 234 people in hospital at the moment, 69 of whom are in intensive care or ICU. B.C. death toll from the coronavirus has reached 1,259.
Henry said that 154,496 people have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. Of those people, 12,111 have received their second dose. She said that B.C. is still gearing up to begin mass vaccinations in March, after the elderly living outside of long-term care facilities have been immunized.
“Each week (in February) the available supply will increase,” Henry said, adding that British Columbians will “receive the information you need” once they are eligible to be vaccinated.
However, even as mass vaccinations draw closer, Henry said that restrictions remain in place. B.C. health officials had announced Friday that restrictions on gatherings and events were in place indefinitely. On Monday, Henry said her guidelines for lessening restrictions include fewer cases, fewer outbreaks and better understanding where variants of concern are.
There have been a total of 40 cases of the U.K. and South African variants of the novel coronavirus, both of which are considered to be more transmissible. Of those, 25 are have been the U.K. variant, broken down by region: 15 in Fraser Health, five in Vancouver Coastal Health, four in Island Health and one in Interior Health. Of the 15 cases of the South African variant, there have been 13 in Vancouver Coastal Health and two in Fraser Health.
Henry said four cases of the South African cases are “particularly concerning,” because it’s unclear how those individuals got infected with that variant. Only three cases of the 40 total confirmed variant cases are still active.
More to come.
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