Health officials announced 115 new cases of COVID-19 in the Interior Health (IH) region on Thursday, Jan. 14.
Fortunately, there are no new deaths in the region, with the number of deaths remaining at 44. The total number of cases within the health authority is now at 4,970.
According to the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), there are 10 individuals currently in intensive care, with 38 others hospitalized due to the virus.
Provincial health officers reported 536 cases of COVID-19 and seven more deaths due to the virus on Thursday, Jan. 14.
Dr. Bonnie Henry also reported that the province has seen one case of the South African variant of the virus. The case is not linked to any known travel, which Henry said is concerning.
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The province is now working to find and isolate people who have brought the variant into B.C.
“We don’t know how that person got [the South African variant] yet, but I’m confident there’s not spread from that person to others,” Henry said.
“We don’t believe that either of those variants are causing a lot of spread of illness in our communities yet but we are not by any means out of the woods.”
IH has provided an update on some of the outbreaks in the region:
- Cariboo Memorial Hospital has four staff cases.
- Brocklehurst Gemstone long-term care in Kamloops has four resident cases.
- Sunnybank long-term care in Oliver has 25 cases: 18 residents and seven staff, with one death linked to this outbreak.
- Creekside Landing long-term care in Vernon has 23 cases: 12 residents and 11 staff, with one death linked to this outbreak.
- Williams Lake Seniors Village has two cases: one resident and one staff.
- Noric House long-term care in Vernon has 39 cases: 24 residents and 15 staff.
- Heritage Square long-term care in Vernon has 53 cases: 40 residents and 13 staff, with five deaths connected to this outbreak.
- Heritage Retirement Residence in West Kelowna has 46 cases: 41 residents and five staff, with two deaths connected to this outbreak.
- Teck mining operations remains at 16 IH cases linked to the outbreak.
- McKinney Place long-term care in Oliver has 78 cases: 55 residents and 23 staff, with 17 deaths connected to this outbreak.
- Village by the Station long-term care in Penticton has 10 cases: five residents and five staff, with one death connected to this outbreak.
- Mountainview Village long-term care in Kelowna has 16 cases: eight residents and eight staff, with two deaths connected to this outbreak.
