B.C. public health teams reported 2,239 more new confirmed cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, continuing a decline from more than 4,000 last week after Omicron waves have apparently peaked in other countries.
There are 469 people in hospital with active coronavirus infections as of Jan. 11, up 20 in the past 24 hours, with 97 of them in intensive care, up by three. Three additional deaths have been attributed to COVID-19, one each in the Fraser, Interior and Northern Health regions.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Tuesday the wave of Omicron variant infections that took off just before Christmas has shown signs of levelling off and declining, after exceeding 4,000 a day based on confirmed molecular tests. A smaller surge of hospitalizations has been seen since last week, but with many in hospital infected with the Delta variant, the effect of the new and generally milder strain is still to be seen, Henry said.
There have been four new health-care facility outbreaks at Abbotsford Regional Hospital, Glenwood Seniors Community (Fraser Health), Saanich Peninsula Hospital – Long Term Care, and Oyster Harbour (Island Health). The outbreaks at Mission Memorial Hospital and Hawthorne Lodge (Fraser Health) have been declared over, for a total of 45 facilities with ongoing outbreaks.
With nearly 90 per cent of B.C.’s adult population double vaccinated, from Jan. 3-9, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 19.4 per cent of cases. From Dec. 27 to Jan. 9, they accounted for 35.6 per cent of hospitalizations.
B.C. health authorities continue to operate scheduled appointment COVID-19 vaccination clinics around the province for residents age five and older. 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: Vaccine protection holding as Omicron spreads in B.C.
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New and active cases by region for Jan. 11:
• 807 new cases in Fraser Health, 15,988 active
• 383 new cases in Vancouver Coastal Health, 10,334 active
• 318 new cases in Interior Health, 4,295 active
• 167 new cases in Northern Health, 1,136 active
• 562 new cases in Island Health, 4,330 active
@tomfletcherbc
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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