B.C. Covid update: 2,020 new cases, orders extended to Jan. 8

There were 2,020 new COVID-19 cases reported over the weekend from Friday afternoon until Monday.

There were 647 cases from Friday to Saturday, 726 from Saturday to Sunday and 647 from Sunday through Monday afternoon.

There are now 9,380 active cases with 349 in hospital, including 77 in intensive care, another 35 people have died including 2 in Interior Health bringing the death B.C. toll to 527.

There are 14 people in hospital in the Interior Health (IH) region, four in intensive care, with 636 active cases.

Two more people in IH died from the virus (total of six), a man and woman both in their late 70s.

“I’m sad to report two additional COVID-19 related deaths; bringing the total in Interior Health to six. Both people died in hospital over the weekend and I would like to extend our condolences to their families and caregivers. It’s never easy to lose a member of our community and our thoughts are with their loved ones. Limiting the spread of COVID-19 is our best way of protecting those who are vulnerable. Let’s all continue to do our part as we continue fighting this challenging pandemic together,” said a statement from Susan Brown, Interior Health CEO and president.

There are three outbreaks at long term care sites in the Okanagan: five cases at Mountainview Village in Kelowna, eight cases at McKinney Place in Oliver and two cases at Village by the Station in Penticton.

Currently, 10,747 people are under active monitoring and 27,287 have recovered.

“We have two types of beds when reporting on hospital capacity, base beds and surgical beds,” Health Minister Adrian Dix said. “In Interior health base beds are at 89 per cent capacity for base beds and 70 per cent for surgical beds and 74.7 per cent for critical care capacity.”

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has extended her orders to ban all gatherings and events until Jan. 8th.

All worship services and community and social events remain suspended, along with high-intensity group fitness, such as interval training, hot yoga and spin classes.

“The orders that we have had in place have started to have an impact on the transmission of the virus in British Columbia. However, transmission remains high and we need to continue our efforts to reduce social interactions and stop the spread. The provincial health officer’s orders restricting all gatherings and events have today been extended through to Jan. 8, 2021, at midnight. This includes gatherings in people’s homes and in public venues,” stated Henry.

Click here to read the orders.

“At this time, we are also strongly recommending against any travel other than what is essential for work or medical care,” said Henry.

The latest order includes an exemption for drive-thru events like light festivals and drop-off toy drives.

Henry and others have ruled out a longer Christmas school break, saying the data doesn’t support it, and the downside could be much greater.

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The break down of new cases by region is as follows:

Vancouver Coastal Health 304

Fraser Valley Health 1,362

Vancouver Island Health 45

Interior Health 203

Northern Health 106

There will be another update on Tuesday afternoon.