B.C. Covid update: 1,889 new cases over two days, 23 deaths over long weekend

Apr 5, 2021 | 4:20 PM Pete McIntyre

B.C. had 999 new Covid-19 cases between Saturday and Sunday, and another 890 cases from Sunday to today, for a total of 1,889.

Those totals are down a bit from the record highs earlier in the long weekend.

Of the new cases, 129 were in Interior Health.

Elsewhere, 579 cases were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 986 in Fraser Health, 100 in Island Health, 95 in Northern Health and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

The four-day case count is 4,040 new cases, for a total of 104,061 cases in B.C.

Since April 1, there have been 23 new Covid-related deaths, for a total of 1,486 in B.C.

There are 8,490 active cases with 11,989 people under public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases.

Of the active cases, 318 individuals are currently hospitalized, 96 of whom are in intensive care.

Since April 1, there have been 916 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern in our province, for a total of 3,559 cases (588 are active). This includes 2,771 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 51 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant and 737 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant.

To date, 893,590 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,472 of which are second doses.

The province is moving ahead with its Covid-19 Immunization Plan ahead of schedule, and launching “Get Vaccinated,” B.C.’s online and telephone registration and booking system.

“We know this virus is constantly changing and some of the new variants can spread more easily, but the same measures we know can still stop the spread and we have safe and effective vaccines on our side now,” a statement from Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said.

“Now is not the time to bend the rules – it’s time for us to work together again to bend the curve. It’s not easy, but it’s the right thing to do for our loved ones, for our local businesses and for the communities we live in,” Dix and Henry said.