Island Health reported 68 more COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of active cases to 504. Of those, 201 are in the central island region, 271 are in the south island and 32 are in the north, according to Island Health. The BC CDC dashboard shows 21 people are in hospital, including seven in ICU. No new deaths were reported today.
B.C. reported a record 1,293 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths over the last 24 hours. There are now 9,184 active cases, including 336 people hospitalized with the virus, 101 of them in critical care, according to the BC CDC.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, said although more young people are being hospitalized with the virus, the data does not suggest the P.1 variant has caused higher rates of hospitalization in younger people.
Between March 1 and 26, the rate of hospitalization for all COVID-19 strains and P.1 was nearly the same at 4.2 per cent and 4.3 per cent, respectively. Young people made up a large percentage of those who tested positive for P.1, but Henry said that is a reflection of where transmission is occurring.
She said the B.1.1.7 strain, which has a hospitalization rate of 5.2 per cent, has replaced many of the older COVID-19 strains.
“We knew this was likely to spread more easily and to cause more people to become infected and we have indeed seen that,” she said.
There are currently 3,776 confirmed VOC cases in B.C, though only 104 are considered active. “This includes 2,842 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 51 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant and 883 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant,” reads a joint statement by Henry and Adrian Dix, minister of health.
The province has administered 985,001 doses of the three COVID-19 vaccines, 87,564 of which are second doses, according to the BC CDC. Seniors 65 and older, Indigenous people over 18 and clinically extremely vulnerable people who have received a letter can now book vaccine appointments.
Across B.C., 97,462 people have recovered from COVID-19. There are 15,203 people under active public health monitoring as a result of exposure to the virus.
