Interior continues to record highest COVID-19 case numbers

Interior Health (IH) saw another increase in COVID-19 cases Thursday as the region posted the highest number of new infections in British Columbia for a third straight day.

IH reported 444, an increase of 74 from the previous day. Active case numbers are no longer being provided due to new testing methods by the province, and “are no longer an accurate reflection of what is happening,” according to Dr. Bonnie Henry.

B.C. is reporting 1,318 new cases (increase of 131), and there are 867 people hospitalized (decrease of 26) with the virus and 138 in intensive care (decrease of five).

Five more people have died of COVID-19, raising the overall total to 2,730. Two of the deaths were in Interior Health.

There has been one new health-care facility outbreak at Chartwell Langley Gardens (Fraser Health).

The outbreaks at Creekside Landing in Vernon and Evergreen House (Vancouver Coastal Health) have been declared over, for a total of 53 facilities with ongoing outbreaks.

As of Thursday, 90.3 per cent of eligible people five and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 84.9 per cent have had two shots and 51.1 per cent of those 12 and older have had a booster dose.

From Feb. 2-8, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 23.7 per cent of cases. From Jan. 26 to Feb. 8, they accounted for 31.5 per cent of hospitalizations.

Note: As of today, the number of active cases and those that have discontinued isolation have been removed from the COVID-19 pandemic update and will no longer be updated on the daily BCCDC dashboard.