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COVID infections in B.C. remain at elevated levels on Friday with 223 new cases

The number of new daily COVID-19 cases in B.C. remains elevated, reaching 223 in the last 24 hours, provincial health officials said Friday afternoon.
Dr Bonnie Henry
Dr Bonnie Henry

The number of new daily COVID-19 cases in B.C. remains elevated, reaching 223 in the last 24 hours, provincial health officials said Friday afternoon.

That figure – coming a day after the province reported a record high of 274 new daily cases on Thursday – brings the total number of active COVID cases in B.C. to 2,009, with another 4,637 people under active health monitoring after having been exposed to the virus.

Overall, 75 patients are hospitalized and 24 of them are in intensive care, said Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry in a statement. However, there were no new deaths to report in the latest report, and the total death toll remains at 256.

Henry said the continued spike in new COVID cases means that it is time for B.C. residents to again consider reducing social gatherings and limiting contact with others, given the rising numbers recently coincided with private events such as weddings.

“Contact-tracing teams throughout our province are working around the clock to stop further spread, but it requires all of us to do our part to be successful in these efforts,” Henry said in the statement. “This is our opportunity and the time to take a step back from our social interactions and keep our groups small this weekend. In doing this, we show our appreciation and support for the important work of contact tracers.”

It has been a discouraging week in terms of B.C.’s COVID numbers, as Thursday marked the fourth time in six days that the province announced a new record high for daily cases. 

The area with the largest number of cases since the start of the pandemic remains the Fraser Health region (6,864), followed by Vancouver Coastal Health (4,319), Interior Health (662), Northern Health (371) and Island Health (250). In total, the province has now seen 12,554 cases of the novel coronavirus – with 10,247 people having recovered since.

Officials did report two new health-facility outbreaks, located at Laurel Place in Surrey and Fair Haven Homes Burnaby Lodge in Burnaby, as well as two new community outbreaks at Langley’s Coast Spa Manufacturing and Surrey’s Pace Processing. With four assisted-living facilities now off the outbreak list, the total number of health-care facilities outbreaks in B.C. now stands at 16.

The following facilities remain on the outbreak list:

Vancouver Coastal Health - 

* Haro Park Centre long-term care facility (second occurrence)

* Point Grey Private Hospital long-term care facility

* Royal Arch Masonic Home long-term care facility (second occurrence)

* Three Links Care Centre long-term care facility

Fraser Health - 

* Al Hogg Pavilion

* Baillie House long-term care facility

* Evergreen Baptist Care Society long-term care facility

* Fair Haven Homes Burnaby Lodge

* Fort Langley Seniors Community long-term care facility

* Good Samaritan Victoria Heights assisted-living facility

* Laurel Place

* Peace Portal Seniors Village long-term care facility

* Rosemary Heights Seniors Village independent, assisted and long-term care facility

* Sunset Manor assisted-living facility

* The Village assisted living and long-term care facility

* Zion Park Manor long-term care facility