B.C. reported another 414 confirmed cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, bringing the total active cases in the province to 4,426, with 278 people in hospital, 80 in intensive care.
A further 16 people have also died connected to the respiratory disease.
Public health officials say an investigation has confirmed that an infected person at Garibaldi secondary school in Maple Ridge had the B.1.1.7 variant of the coronavirus, first detected in the United Kingdom and a “variant of concern” around the world. The individual has recovered and there is no longer an exposure risk at the school, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a statement on Feb. 3.
One new outbreak in the health care system has been reported, at Burnaby Hospital.
Inoculations continue with the available vaccines as deliveries to Canada have slowed or stopped due to manufacturer delays. To date there have been 142,146 doses administered, 6,417 of them second doses of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine that provide the maximum immunity.
Of the 414 new cases, 182 were found in the Fraser Health region, 108 in Vancouver Coastal, 63 in Interior Health including the Okanagan and Kootenay regions, 34 in Northern Health and 26 on Vancouver Island.
“We know the COVID-19 variants make things more challenging as the virus is more likely to spread quickly, which is why we all need to continue to make safe choices,” Dix and Henry said. “Until the COVID-19 vaccines are available for all of us, let’s choose less and choose small. This is the path to get to the brighter days ahead.”
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