Most residents living in Northern Health (NH) will have to continue to follow stricter public health rules due to COVID-19.
The regional health authority announced Thursday that restrictions put in place Oct. 14 have been extended indefinitely. The orders were initially set to expire Nov. 19.
Restrictions include gathering limits, COVID-19 safety plans for events, closing bars and nightclubs and requiring religious services to go virtual. The restrictions do not apply to local health areas west of Kitwanga.
READ MORE: Northern B.C. COVID-19 restrictions don’t extend west of Kitwanga
“At this time, NH Medical Health Officers have determined there remains a need for regional public health measures to limit transmission, reduce case counts, and reduce rates of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in the North,” the health authority said in a news release.
Much of the region recorded a daily rate of more than 20 cases per 100,000 people between Nov. 7 and 13, the most recent dates available.
“Vaccination is the best line of defence against COVID-19,” the release reads.
“While immunization rates continue to increase in larger centres across the north, some parts of the region still have some of the lowest vaccination rates in B.C.”
In more than half of Northern Health’s 15 local health areas, less than 80 per cent of the eligible population is fully immunized against COVID-19 according to BC Centre for Disease Control data.
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