B.C. announced 1,013 new COVID-19 cases and three additional deaths, as of Wednesday (March 31).
The count breaks down to 385 new cases in the Vancouver Coastal Health authority region, 458 in Fraser Health, 47 in Island Health, 64 in Interior Health and 60 in Northern Health.
There are now a total of 7,405 active cases in the province, including 301 people being treated in hospital for the virus. Of them, 80 are in critical care.
There is one new health care outbreak in the Interior Health region, at Vernon Jubilee Hospital.
In a joint statement, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix reported a delay in the sequencing analysis for variants of concern.
Total variant case numbers include 2,134 of the B117, 370 of P1 and 49 of the B1351, according to the B.C. Center for Disease Control.
“We all have the same ability to spread the COVID-19 virus – no matter our age. We also know that regardless of where we work or what pre-existing health conditions we may have, the older we are, the higher our risk of severe illness.”
“Tomorrow, as we go into the Easter weekend, expanded visitation in all long-term care facilities throughout the province will get underway,” the statement read.
“Right now, no one should be travelling for leisure or vacation outside of your local communities or regions. The risk for all of us is too great, which means any of our usual travel and holiday weekend gatherings need to be put on hold.”
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So far, 756,080 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C., of which 87,351 were second doses.
A total of 1,458 people in B.C. have lost their lives to COVID-19 since the pandemic began. There have been a total of 100,048 cases, of which 91,066 have recovered.
READ MORE: Governments investing in new vaccine-manufacturing plant in Toronto
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