B.C. records 622 new Covid cases, 136 variant cases

B.C. has recorded 622 new cases of Covid-19 Thursday (Mar. 18) and has identified 136 new cases as variants of concern.

The new totals were included in an update prepared by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry. Thirty of the new cases were found within Interior Health.

The province has now eclipsed 90,000 total cases of Covid-19 since the pandemic arrive in B.C., at 90,049. They are spread out as follows:

• 21,115 — Vancouver Coastal (up by 184)
• 52,640 — Fraser Health (up by 317)
• 2,835 — Island Health (up by 35)
• 7,934 — Interior Health (up by 30)
• 5,361 — Northern Health (up by 54)
• 164 — Reside outside of Canada (up by 2)

There are 4,941 active cases of Covid-19 in B.C., up by 50 from Wednesday. A total of 286 people are in hospital, with 85 in intensive care.

Eight more people have died of the virus, including three in Interior Health, lifting the provincial death toll to 1,419.

Of the 1,132 variant cases found in B.C., 1,040 are the B.1.1.7 variant first found in the United Kingdom.

Henry reported 9,620 people are under active public health monitoring due to direct Covid-19 exposure.

Another 83,613 people are considered fully recovered from the virus, or 93 per cent of all recorded cases.

Henry said 465,584 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C. to date, and the province’s vaccination campaign will ramp up significantly in coming weeks with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

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Update on IH outbreaks:

·        Cottonwoods Care Centre long-term care in Kelowna has 23 cases: 20 residents and three staff.

·        Kelowna General Hospital unit 5B has six cases: three patients and three staff, with one death connected to the outbreak.

·        The Florentine in Merritt has two resident cases.