BC health officials said on Friday that 67 new cases of COVID-19 have been discovered in the province, bringing the province’s total number of known cases to 792.
In addition, two more people have died as a result of coronavirus in the Vancouver Coastal Health region,” said Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry. “Our condolences to their loved ones during this difficult time.”
In a joint statement sent out in lieu of a live press conference, Dr. Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said that each health region in the province has patients with coronavirus:
- 391 are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region
- 262 are in the Fraser Health region
- 57 are in the Island Health region
- 70 are in the Interior Health region
- 12 are in the Northern Heath region
Additionally, of the total COVID-19 cases, “73 individuals are currently hospitalized, and the remaining people who have tested positive for COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation,” the statement said.
Officials also confirmed that two additional long-term care homes in the Fraser Health region have staff with confirmed cases of COVID-19:The Harrison at Elim Village and Chartwell Independent Living at Langley Gardens.
In total, 11 long-term care homes in the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health regions now have confirmed cases of COVID-19.
On the positive side, officials said 275 patients with COVID-19 have recovered and no longer have isolation requirements.
“In the past few days, our upward path has been less severe than other places, but we continue to see steady increases in community transmission cases and continue to be concerned about outbreaks, which could quickly grow and challenge our pandemic response,” the statement said. “The evidence is clear: with every person in British Columbia 100% committed to physical distancing, we can flatten the curve.”
And over the next two weeks, “we must be united in this one goal.”
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As part of achieving this goal, the importance of avoiding social gatherings and close contact with other people was highlighted once again.
“We strongly discourage any in-person gathering of any size at this time, but rather encourage using the many online options we have available today to stay connected to friends, family, customers and clients,” the statement said. “Every day that we stay home and stay apart will bolster our COVID-19 response.
This, officials said, “is how we will protect our health-care workers, whose job it is to care for us, our loved ones and ourselves. We are tracking the epidemic curve closely here in B.CWe are also monitoring outbreaks in other nations to guide our health system preparations and public health response.”
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