BC reports 12 new coronavirus cases and four new deaths

Province of British Columbia/Flickr

British Columbia health officials announced 12 new cases of coronavirus on Monday afternoon.

During a joint press conference with BC Health Minister Adrian Dix, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said these cases the province’s total case count to 2,530.

Broken down by health region, that’s 894 cases in Vancouver Coastal Health, 1,253 cases in Fraser Health, 127 cases in Island Health, 194 cases in Interior Health, and 62 cases in Northern Health.

Henry also announced four new deaths in long-term care homes, bringing the province’s death toll to 161. Of the total number of cases, 37 people are in hospital, with seven of those in ICU.

A total of 2,102 cases are now considered fully recovered, as well.

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The latest update comes after Henry said last week that health officials won’t be easing restrictions on a specific, region-by-region basis.

“No, I don’t believe we’re at that point where that will make sense for us,” she said. “We do know that people move, and we do know that with this virus, we are not catching everybody who has it [and] we know it is still in our communities.”

The cases that have tested positive, she said, “are a good indication and we are watching very carefully, but the philosophy that we need to have across the province for the coming period of time is that we don’t give this virus those opportunities to start spreading to large numbers of people.”

She said that while people are now increasing their social connections – within prescribed limits — those limits “are very specific and we believe they’re needed, based on the evidence that we have about how this virus spreads.”