B.C.'s third wave of COVID-19 infections appears to have crested, with the lowest number of new cases detected in a 24-hour period coming in the past day in more than a month.
There were 763 new cases of COVID-19 cases discovered in the past day, which is the lowest total since 716 cases were identified on March 24. The low number of cases in the past day comes after 847 new cases detected on April 25, and 881 cases detected on April 24. The record for new cases in a 24-hour period was 1,293 new cases detected on April 8.
The number of people actively fighting COVID-19 infections has also been falling, as the 8,199 people now fighting active infections is the lowest total since April 1.
While fewer new cases detected, and fewer active infections is good news, the bad news is that an additional 17 British Columbians died from COVID-19 complications in the past three days.
Of those:
• two were older than 90 years old:
• seven were between 80 and 89 years old;
• five were between 70 and 79 years old;
• two were between 60 and 69 years old; and
• one was between 50 and 59 years old.
One person who died in the past day, and had COVID-19, was in a long-term care home that has had an active outbreak, and that person was not vaccinated, said provincial health officer Bonnie Henry.
She also revealed that B.C.'s coroner service completed an investigation into the death of an infant earlier this year, and determined that the baby had COVID-19. That death was not one of the 17 new deaths that were recorded on the weekend.
Henry said getting vaccinated does not provide 100% protection against contracting COVID-19.
About 1,000 people in B.C. have contracted COVID-19 after having received their first dose of vaccine. A much smaller number of people have contracted the disease after having had two doses, she said.
B.C.'s average number of newly provided doses of vaccine in the past three days was 31,102 – far from the record of 46,227 doses of vaccine provided on April 16. The 93,306 new doses provided in the past three days went to 92,934 new people, with 372 doses being needed second doses.
In total, B.C. officials have now administered 1,635,372 doses of vaccine to 1,546,337 people, with 89,035 people having needed second doses. For more on the vaccine roll-out in B.C., click here.
There are now 484 people in hospital with COVID-19 infections, with 158 of those being in intensive care units. The number of those in hospital has fallen for two consecutive reporting periods, after having been at record highs since April 14.
Of the 126,249 people known to have contracted COVID-19 in B.C., more than 92%, or 116,241 people are deemed by the province to have recovered. Health officials are closely monitoring 12,340 people for symptoms because they have had known contact with people identified as having been infected.
Henry provided no new information about mutant strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19. Provincial officials have stopped conducting full genome sequencing on newly detected positive COVID-19 cases specifically to look for the so-called variants of concern, and are instead spending that time looking for potential vaccine failures, and reinfections.
The province's largest health region, Fraser Health, remains the one that has the most new cases of COVID-19, and its percentage of new cases has been on the rise.
Here is the breakdown of where the 2,491 people with infections detected in the past day reside, by health region:
• 466 in Vancouver Coastal Health (18.7%);
• 1,632 in Fraser Health (65.5%);
• 82 in Island Health (3.2%);
• 206 in Interior Health (8.3%);
• 104 in Northern Health (4.2%); and
• one person who usually resides outside Canada.
One new outbreak at a seniors' home has arisen, at Orchard Haven in Keremeos in the Interior Health region.
There are now eight active outbreaks at long-term living, or seniors' homes in B.C. They are:
• Acropolis Manor in Prince Rupert;
• Cottonwoods Care Centre in Kelowna.
• Craigdarroch Care Home in Victoria.
• Dufferin Care Centre in Coquitlam;
• Mount St. Mary in Victoria;
• Orchard Haven in Keremeos;
• Sandalwood Retirement Resort in Kelowna; and
• Sunset Manor in Chilliwack.
Seven hospitals in B.C. now have active COVID-19 outbreaks. They are:
• Abbotsford Regional Hospital in Abbotsford;
• Dawson Creek and District Hospital in Dawson Creek;
• Nanaimo Regional General Hospital in Nanaimo;
• Prince Rupert Regional Hospital in Prince Rupert;
• Surrey Memorial Hospital in Surrey;
• UBC Hospital in Vancouver; and
• Vancouver General Hospital in Vancouver.
