B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Province of B.C.
February 18, 2021 - 4:13 PM
There were 617 new COVID-19 cases recorded in B.C. in the last 24 hours, one of the highest daily counts this year.
Most of the new cases, 342, were in the Fraser Health region.
Over the same 24 hours, only 17 new cases were recorded in the Interior Health region, which has been in the 45-65 case per day range for much of the past few weeks.
There were four more deaths bringing the provincial total to 1,321.
"We remind everyone about the importance of using all of our layers of protection: maintaining a safe distance from others, washing our hands regularly, staying home when we are ill, using a mask in all public spaces and having robust COVID-19 safety plans in all businesses," provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a joint news release issued today, Feb. 18.
“We all know what we need to do. Until we have widespread vaccine availability, these small steps make a big difference in helping to keep all of us safe,” they said.
“Equally important is the need to ensure you are following all provincewide public health orders and restrictions - especially with the uptick in cases in the Lower Mainland and northern regions.”
The Northern Health region had 92 cases while there were 19 on Vancouver Island and 146 in the Vancouver Coastal health region.
There are 4,348 active cases in B.C. with 224 people in hospital, of whom 60 are in intensive care.
Health workers have administered 180,691 doses of COVID-19 vaccine with 29,952 of those being second vaccines.
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