B.C. health minister Adrian Dix speaks to reporters, Dec. 10, 2020 as provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry looks on.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Province of B.C.
April 05, 2021 - 4:21 PM
B.C.'s health officials are reporting 4,040 new COVID-19 cases since April 1, offering up adjusted numbers from the weekend, with almost a quarter being variants of concern.
From April 3 to 4, there were 999 cases, and in the last 24-hours, there were a further 890 cases for a two-day total of 1,889 new cases.
These periods are in addition to April 1 to 2, when the province initially reported 1,018 cases, and April 2 and 3, when they reported 1,072 cases. Those figures were provisional and have since been confirmed as 1,074 cases over April 1 to 2 and 1,077 cases over April 2 to 3. Both days were already record-breaking, though these new numbers obviously are combined, this results in a four-day case count of 4,040 new cases, for a total of 104,061 cases in B.C. to date.
In addition to the new cases, there have been 23 new COVID-19 related deaths since April 1, for a total of 1,486 deaths.
Since April 1, there have been 916 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern in our province, for a total of 3,559 cases (588 are active). This includes 2,771 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 51 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant and 737 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant.
"We know this virus is constantly changing and some of the new variants can spread more easily, but the same measures we know can still stop the spread and we have safe and effective vaccines on our side now. It is more important than ever to stay on track with our vaccination programs, continue to use all our layers of protection all the time and follow the provincial health orders and guidelines," provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a joint media statement.
"If anyone in your family or household is feeling unwell, get tested and stay home from school or work. This is especially important for anyone who has been travelling in these past weeks, as transmission has increased. Now is not the time to bend the rules - it's time for us to work together again to bend the curve. It's not easy, but it's the right thing to do for our loved ones, for our local businesses and for the communities we live in."
There are 8,490 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and of these 318 people are currently hospitalized while 96 are in intensive care. Of the cases from April 3 and 4, 579 are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 986 are in the Fraser Health region, 100 are in the Island Health region, 129 in the Interior Health region, 95 in the Northern Health region and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.
While cases are growing, so too is the number of people who have been vaccinated. To date, 893,590 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,472 of which are second doses.
The province's COVID-19 Immunization Plan is ahead of schedule, and B.C.'s online and telephone registration and booking system, will be open as of 8 a.m. tomorrow, for people 71 years and older, Indigenous peoples 18 and older, and those who have received their 'clinically extremely vulnerable' letter in the mail to book their vaccine appointment.
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