BC health officials report over 700 COVID-19 cases entering weekend

BC health officials announced 717 new test-positive COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total number of recorded cases in the province to 155,079.

In a written statement, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said that there are 4,277 active cases of COVID-19 in the province.

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Of the active cases, 82 individuals are currently hospitalized, 39 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.

New and total active cases, broken down by health region, are as follows:

• Fraser Health: 140 new cases, 821 total active cases
• Vancouver Coastal Health: 101 new cases, 593 total active cases
• Interior Health: 374 new cases, 2,446 total active cases
• Northern Health: 60 new cases, 163 total active cases
• Island Health: 40 new cases, 245 total active cases
• Outside of Canada: No new cases, nine total active cases

There have been no new COVID-19-related deaths over the past 24 hours, for a total of 1,779 deaths in British Columbia.

To date, 82.4% of all eligible people 12 and over have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. In total, 7,156.300 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in BC.

148,694 people who tested positive have now recovered.