Dr. Bonnie Henry

Image Credit: Flickr/Province of B.C.

There were 425 new cases of COVID-19 in B.C. over the past 24 hours, but no new deaths.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Minister of Health Adrian Dix gave a provincial COVID-19 update today, Nov. 5, reporting 425 new cases in B.C. bringing the total number to 16,560 since the start of the pandemic.

An outbreak at Kelowna’s École De L'Anse-Au-Sable has been declared over and students and staff will be returning to the school tomorrow, Nov. 6.

"We want to thank school officials for their excellent co-operation in the management of this outbreak, which allowed Interior Health to declare it over after 14 days," Interior Health's chief medical health officer Dr. Albert de Villiers said in a release.

"We know this is a challenging time for parents and children alike, and we remind everyone to carefully consider any plans, parties or sleepovers for children as these activities could lead to other school exposures, " Dr. de Villiers said. "Our public health teams continue to urge everyone to keep their social contacts small. Help us keep schools open and COVID-19 cases down among youth so children can continue with in-class learning."

Eighteen new COVID-19 cases have been reported in the Interior Health region since yesterday, bringing the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 821.

There were 126 cases in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 268 in the Fraser Heath region, seven in the Vancouver Island Health region and six in the Northern Health Health region.

There are 3,389 active cases in B.C., 97 people are in the hospital with COVID-19, and 24 of those are in the intensive care. No new deaths have been reported since yesterday leaving the total at 273.

There are 7,519 people who are under active public health monitoring and 12,806 people who have recovered from the virus.

In the last 24 hours, the number of new cases reported are from 11,020 tests that were conducted around the province.

Two new healthcare outbreaks have been reported in the Lower Mainland. There are 30 active outbreaks in care homes.

Henry reminded parents to keep social parties small, including sleepovers with classmates.

“I know this can be difficult and challenging for children, but I ask that you celebrate in smaller, other safer ways right now,” she said.

— This story was updated at 4:18 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020 with comment from Interior Health's chief medical health officer Dr. Albert de Villiers.

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