COVID-19 cases rise regionally and provincially, hospitalizations and deaths decline

The Interior and B.C., as a whole, saw new COVID-19 cases climb on a week-over-week basis.

The weekly report from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) shows there were 136 cases of the virus confirmed in the Interior and 487 across all of B.C. between Nov. 6 and 12.

Those figures are up from 113 cases in the Interior and 407 in the province the week prior.

Though case figures rose, hospitalizations and deaths linked to the virus fell on a weekly basis.

The most recent report from the centre shows there were 23 people admitted to hospital with positive COVID-19 tests in the Interior and 144 hospitalizations in B.C. Those are down from 32 admissions in the Interior and 159 across B.C. the week before.

There were three people admitted to critical care in the Interior with COVID-19, and 33 ICU admissions in all of B.C. The Interior’s ICU admission was down from four the week before, but the provincial figure rose from 26 the previous week.

The BCCDC reports that, as of Nov. 17, 328 people were in hospital with COVID-19 across B.C., including 26 people in critical care.

As of time of publication, the Interior had a total of 41 COVID positive patients in hospital, four of whom were in an ICU.

A total of 30 British Columbians died due to COVID-19 in the latest reporting week, including nine from the Interior. However, that was down from the 12 deaths in the region and 40 across B.C. the week before.

To date, there has been a total of 388,984 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the province, 69,477 of which were from the Interior.

A total of 4,607 British Columbians have died due to the virus, including 717 people from the Interior.

The BCCDC is no longer reporting cases for individual health areas such as Greater Vernon.