Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry with Health Minister Adrian Dix in the background, Monday, March 23, 2020.

Image Credit: FACEBOOK

The COVID-19 virus has been detected at two new long-term care facilities in B.C., both in the Lower Mainland.

One new case is at the German-Canadian Care Home long-tern care home in Vancouver, the other is at the Delta View long-term care home in the Fraser Health region.

The news comes along with an announcement by the province of 48 new COVID-19 cases in B.C. taking the total number of cases to 472.

There are three new cases within the Interior Health region, taking the total number to 30.

The announcement was made today, March 23, by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Minister of Health Adrian Dix.

Roughly 400 of the cases in B.C. are located in the Lower Mainland. Of those with the virus, 33 are currently in hospital, and 14 of those are in critical care. Henry said 100 people have now recovered from COVID-19.

Since the numbers were last released by the province, March 21, three more people in B.C. have died from COVID-19 related illnesses.

"We are very saddened, of course, by the passing of these people," Henry said.

Henry said 100 people with the novel coronavirus in B.C. are now considered recovered and can be released from isolation.

"That is a really good thing to be able to put that on our books, finally," she said.

Dix also released statistics on the number of hospital beds available.

The Minister said hospital beds would normally be at over 100 per cent of capacity, but due to new measures were currently at 68.6 per cent of capacity, while critical care beds are at 55.7 per cent of capacity.

"We are preparing for the circumstances that are before us," Dix said. "We are preparing for the weeks that are to come."

Henry said she senses people in B.C. have grasped the necessity of following her recent orders to stay home if sick, self-isolate for 14 days if recently travelled and to practise physical distancing from others when outside.

She said she never imagined in her 30 years in public health that she would close schools and order people to keep their distance from each other.

"We're seeing people come to that recognition and there's been a transition over this past week," she said. "Just reflect on the monumental changes that we have asked society to do."

— With files from The Canadian Press

— This story was updated at 12:30 p.m. Monday, March 23, 2020 to add more information.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2020