Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and vaccination lead Dr. Penny Ballem outline B.C.’s COVID-19 booster vaccine program, which begins booking third doses for people aged 65 and up this week. (B.C. government photo)

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and vaccination lead Dr. Penny Ballem outline B.C.’s COVID-19 booster vaccine program, which begins booking third doses for people aged 65 and up this week. (B.C. government photo)

B.C. records 326 cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, one more death

New infections still mainly among unvaccinated people

B.C.’s health ministry continued to see relatively low transmission of COVID-19 on Tuesday, with no new outbreaks in the health care system as booster doses of vaccine are nearly complete for people aged 70 and up.

B.C. public health teams recorded 326 new confirmed cases in the 24 hours up to Dec. 7, almost all of the prevalent Delta variant of the coronavirus. There have now been five cases of the Omicron variant detected in B.C., all from people who have travelled from Africa or Iran, and none has resulted in severe illness, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Tuesday.

As of Dec. 7 there are 242 people in hospital with active COVID-19 infections, up one from Monday, 82 of them in intensive care, down from 89. There was one death attributed to COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, in the Northern Health region.

From Nov. 29-Dec. 5, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 58.7% of cases, out of the 18 per cent of people aged five and up who have not yet received two doses. From Nov. 22-Dec. 5, they accounted for 63.1% of hospitalizations.

B.C. health authorities continue to operate scheduled appointment COVID-19 vaccination clinics around the province. Registration and booking appointments in B.C. can be done online here, or by calling 1-833-838-2323 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., seven days a week.

RELATED: B.C. finds 5 cases of Omicron, no serious illness

RELATED: B.C. expanding booster doses to 65 and older

New and active cases by region for Dec. 7:

• 92 new cases in Fraser Health, 930 active

• 53 new cases in Vancouver Coastal Health, 471 active

• 88 new cases in Interior Health, 561 active

• 22 new cases in Northern Health, 261 active

• 71 new cases in Island Health, 591 active


@tomfletcherbc
tfletcher@blackpress.ca

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