Health officials announce 98 new coronavirus cases in BC

Health officials in British Columbia have announced 98 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of known cases in the province to 8,641.

In a written statement on Friday, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Deputy Minister of Health Stephen Brown said that broken down by health region, this equates to 3,127 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 4,412 in the Fraser Health region, 204 in the Island Health region, 522 in the Interior Health region, 289 in the Northern Health region and 87 cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

As it stands, there are 1,349 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 3,533 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases.

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There are 62 individuals who are hospitalized with COVID-19, 19 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.

“There has been one new health-care facility outbreak at the Peace Portal Seniors Village and the outbreak at Surrey Memorial Hospital has been declared over. In total, 10 long-term care or assisted-living facilities and four acute-care facilities have active outbreaks,” stated officials.

There are no new community outbreaks, although community exposure events continue. The outbreak at the Loblaws warehouse is now over, confirmed officials.

There has been one new COVID-19-related death, for a total of 230 deaths in British Columbia.

A total of 7,036 people who tested positive have now recovered.

“Our community wellness during COVID-19 is about keeping new cases low and manageable, as well maintaining our important connections with friends, family and neighbours in a way that doesn’t put ourselves or those around us at risk,” wrote officials.

“With the arrival of the cooler weather, now is the time for all of us [to] take a step back from connecting in person to staying connected in other, safer ways. Stepping back from our social interactions does not mean losing touch. Rather, you can continue to reach out to friends near and far with the many tools we have available to us to connect virtually.”