B.C. Covid cases jump; active cases soar past 5,000

Mar 12, 2021 | 4:22 PM Pete McIntyre

B.C. has recorded it’s highest single-day COVID-19 case count in weeks.

In a prepared statement, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry reported another 648 cases of COVID-19 Friday (Mar. 12), including 39 in Interior Health.

That brings the B.C. total to 86,867 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic arrived, spread out as follows:

20,282 — Vancouver Coastal (up by 149)
50,861 — Fraser Health (up by 372)
2,686 — Island Health (up by 32)
7,777 — Interior Health (up by 39)
5,101 — Northern Health (up by 56)
160 — Reside outside of Canada (unchanged)

The active case load in B.C. has ballooned to 5,070, up 158 from Thursday. There are 255 people in hospital and 67 in intensive care.

No new COVID-19 deaths were record Friday, leaving the B.C. death toll at 1,397 and the Interior Health death toll at 108.

B.C. has identified 79 new cases considered variants of concern, raising the total in the province to 717.

A total of 9,155 people are under active public health monitoring due to direct COVID-19 contact.

A further 80,325 people are considered fully recovered from the virus, or 92 per cent of all recorded cases.

To date, 380,743 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C., 87,024 of which are second doses.

Vaccine appointment bookings are now open for people over 85 and Indigenous people over 65.

Interior Health update

Outbreak declared over:

· Interior Health declared the outbreak over at Brocklehurst Gemstone long-term care in Kamloops. There were 32 cases: 24 residents and eight staff, with two deaths connected to this outbreak.

Update on outbreaks:

· Cottonwoods Care Centre long-term care in Kelowna has 13 cases: 11 residents and two staff.

· Kelowna General Hospital unit 5B has three cases: two patients and one staff.

· The Florentine in Merritt has two resident cases.

Big White Update:

· There are no new cases and no active cases connected to the cluster at Big White.

“I’m happy to see there are no new cases connected to the Big White cluster. Thanks to the efforts of those living and working at Big White following precautions, the cluster is currently under control. With spring break coming up and more families visiting their local ski hill, we’d like to remind everyone that COVID-19 is still circulating in all communities and to stick to your household bubble and continue to follow all precautions,” Dr. Albert de Villiers, chief medical health officer, said.