298 B.C. residents still in hospital with COVID | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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298 B.C. residents still in hospital with COVID

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While rules around mask wearing have been eased so B.C. residents can get back to living more normal lives, the COVID pandemic is still very real for many.

There are 298 people in hospital today, March 17, according to a Ministry of Health news release, with 49 patients in intensive care units.

Seven more people have died in the last 24 hours in the province, but none in the Interior Health region, bringing the pandemic death toll to 2,960.

About half the of people in hospital with a COVID diagnosis were not in there because of COVID but were tested after going to hospital for things like surgery, delivering a baby or being admitted to a mental health unit.

READ MORE: B.C. residents have a month to tell government how they did with COVID

There were 240 new COVID cases recorded in B.C. in the last 24 hours, including 66 in Interior Health, 47 in Fraser Health, 52 in Vancouver Coastal, 41 on Vancouver Island and 34 in Northern Health.

The real number of cases is estimated to be three to four times higher because many people infected with COVID are not getting tested or take rapid tests that are not recorded in these figures.

The vaccination rate for people over the age of 12 with at least one dose was unchanged at 93.4%, as was the 90.9% who have at least two doses while the 56.8% who have three doses is up slightly.


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