I m monitoring for a number of things: fewer cases in our community, fewer outbreaks, or unchecked transmission in places around the province – these are important signs that we are ready [to loosen health restrictions]. Also having a better understanding of where the variants of concern are, and how they re getting into our community. B.C. now has 241 people with infections serious enough to be in hospital. That is up by seven from yesterday, and it includes 68 people whose ailments are serious enough to be in intensive care units. The province has a total of 4,393 people actively battling infections – up 417 overnight.
VANCOUVER British Columbia recorded another 1,236 cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, pushing the provincial total past 70,000. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry also announced 13 more deaths related to the disease at her coronavirus briefing on Monday. Our condolences go out to those families and caregivers and communities that have lost loved ones again this weekend, Henry said. The province has now recorded a total of 70,952 infections and 1,259 deaths since the start of the pandemic. The latest count includes 40 confirmed cases of the U.K. and South African COVID-19 variants, five of which are not connected to international travel. Only three of the 40 identified variant cases are currently active, and health officials said they re confident the majority of cases did not lead to any further transmission.
Health Minister Adrian Dix told media that when new hospital beds that the province has added during the pandemic are taken into consideration, B.C. s hospital occupancy rate is 70.4%. When new ICU beds are taken into consideration, the province s ICUs are at 52% occupancy. The number of people known to be carrying the virus in B.C. has also been on the decline. There are now 3,976 people who have been infected and have not yet tested negative multiple times, which is the process for considering people as having recovered. That is the lowest total since November 6, when there were 3,741 people with active infections. Given that B.C. had a record 10,039 people with active infections on December 14, that metric has fallen considerably.