B.C. Covid update Friday: 740 new cases, 40% have vaccine

British Columbia ended the work week with the lowest new Covid-19 case number in over a month.

The province reported 740 new cases Friday, lowest since the 716 on March 24, 2021.

Total cases have now reached 129,482.

In a statement, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said there are 7,886 active cases, with 511 people hospitalized, 174 in intensive care.

As for the health regions, there are 163 new cases in Vancouver Coastal Health, 431 in Fraser Health, 32 in Island Health, 92 in Interior Health and 22 in Northern Health.

Four more people have died of Covid-related issues, raising the death toll to 1,581 in B.C.

Within Interior Health, there are 644 active cases, an increase of 23 from Thursday. There were 35 patients in hospital and 19 in intensive care.

To date, 1,786,722 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca Covid vaccines have been administered in B.C., 90,642 of which are second doses.

“Now, nearly 40 per cent of eligible people in B.C. have received their first dose,” said Henry and Dix.

The officials remind everyone in B.C. who is 18 years and older to register on the Get Vaccinated website or by calling 1 833 838-2323. Once you are in the system, you will be notified when it’s your turn to book an appointment to receive your first, or your second, dose of the available vaccine.

“This applies to all immunization streams, including the pharmacy stream. If you have received your first dose through a pharmacy, you should still register through the Get Vaccinated site to ensure you are notified when it’s time to book your second dose,” Dix and Henry said.

The latest Covid-19 modelling for B.C. projects a 30 to 40 per cent decline in transmission rates since March.

But the forecasters say hospitalizations and ICU admissions will likely remain high through May due to variants of concern.

They say variants now make up 78 per cent of current cases and have more severe symptoms.

Update on outbreaks:

·        Cottonwoods Care Centre long-term care in Kelowna has 29 cases: 26 residents and three staff, with two deaths connected to the outbreak.

·        Sandalwood Retirement Resort independent living in Kelowna has 26 cases: 24 residents and two staff, with one death connected to the outbreak.

·        Orchard Haven long-term care in Keremeos has two cases: one resident and one staff.

·        Spring Valley long-term care in Kelowna has 21 cases: 16 residents and five staff.