Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/BC Government
April 01, 2021 - 3:41 PM
Heading into the Easter long weekend, COVID-19 cases continue at a high level in B.C. with 832 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry reported during a news briefing today, April 1.
That includes 42 new cases in the Interior Health region and brings the provincial total to 100,800.
“As we come into this long weekend all of us recognize our need to connect,” Dr. Henry said. “We need to ensure, more than ever, that we are socializing safely because we do have an end in sight, because of all of this talk about vaccines and how well they are going to work to protect us. If you do choose to spend time with anyone other than your immediate household this weekend, it must be outdoors.”
Of the new cases, 388 were in the Fraser Health region, 310 in Vancouver Coastal, 53 on Vancouver Island and 39 in the Northern Health region.
There were five more deaths, bringing the provincial death toll to 1,463.
There are 296 people in hospital, which includes 79 in intensive care.
There have been 787,649 doses of vaccines administered, including 87,394 second doses.
Residents of the Interior Health region who are 72 years of age or older, Indigenous residents 18 and over and those identified as having clinically extremely vulnerable who have received letters from health authorities can book vaccination appointments by calling 1-877-740-7747 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Dr. Henry talked at length about the three vaccines currently approved for use and the rare cases of blood clots that may be associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Because of that, vaccinations of front line workers that was expected to start next week are on pause but, hopefully, news on how that will move forward will be known next week, Dr. Henry said.
It’s still expected that everyone in B.C. will be offered a vaccine by the end of June or early July, she said.
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