Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry listens to a reporter's question at a COVID-19 media briefing at the legislature in Victoria, Thursday, March 4, 2021.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Province of B.C.
April 22, 2021 - 1:50 PM
The number of B.C. residents in hospital and intensive care continues to climb as 1,006 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in B.C., with 83 of those in the Interior Health region.
The number of people in hospital has reached a new high at 502 with 161 of those in intensive care. There were four more deaths, bringing the provincial total to 1,550.
“The pressure on our health care system is immense right now and our health care workers need our help right now,” provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said in a news briefing today, April 22, as she urged people to stay close to home.
It is better to be outdoors, she said. That is safer but not 100 per cent safe so precautions still need to be taken.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said that about 1,750 non-urgent scheduled surgeries will be postponed over the next two weeks in the Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health regions. This will affect nine hospitals in order to free up staff to deal with COVID cases.
No mention was made of any surgeries being postponed in the Interior Health region.
Dr. Henry said people who need hospital treatment for ailments other than COVID should definitely go to hospital.
“Emergency departments are there to serve you and they are safe,” she said.
People over 25 years of age can register for vaccinations as of today. Tomorrow, April 23, all residents over 18 can register.
Everyone, even if they have already been vaccinated, is encouraged to register on the Get Vaccinated web site, here.
That’s important in helping schedule second doses of vaccinations, Dr. Henry said.
While younger people can register, the age-based program won’t be booking actual appointments for people over 60 years old until tonight.
Of the new cases, 600 were in the Fraser Health region, 241 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 37 in the Vancouver Island Health region and 42 in the Northern Health region.
There are 8,733 active cases in the province with 12,846 people under public health monitoring.
— This story was updated at 4:20 p.m., April 22, 2021 with the number of active COVID-19 cases.
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