Coronavirus test results suggest that cases are "levelling off": Dr. Bonnie Henry

British Columbia’s top doctor says that COVID-19 cases in the province could be “levelling off,” based on recent lab results.

On Thursday afternoon, health officials announced 82 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in BC. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry added that a record number of tests were conducted — a positive display of increased testing capacity.

“We did a record number of tests yesterday, over 10,000,” Henry told reporters. “10,899 to be exact, for the 82 positive ones that were determined. I think that’s just an incredible feat as our laboratories have been ramping up across the province.”

Henry noted the results show that BC’s positive percentage of test cases is “staying very low.”

“Today it was less than 1% of the tests that were positive,” she explained. “That tells us that we’re doing a good job of finding people and that this is a true, sort of, levelling off of our cases.”

Henry stressed that she’s not one to “overstate positive things” but that she remains “cautiously optimistic.”

“We’re looking at the numbers. I’m following the modelling on an ongoing basis,” she told reporters. “We’re not seeing that exponential increase; we’ve been having a linear increase and it’s kind of slowed down.”

And while the increase in cases may have slowed down, Henry added that the numbers still reflect “ongoing transmission in the community.”

“We need to be aware and we need to be careful,” she stated. “We can have explosive outbreaks if we’re not on our guard.”