B.C. public health team reported 832 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 Thursday, a continued increase as the province steps up infection contact tracing in the latest surge of the pandemic.
There are 330 people in hospital with coronavirus-related conditions as of Sept. 23, up from 324 in the past 24 hours, 148 of them in critical care units, down from 157. Five more deaths were attributed to COVID-19, making the total since last Friday 27 dead.
There have been no new outbreaks declared in the health care system in the past 24 hours, and one at Brookhaven Care Centre in West Kelowna has been declared over. That leaves 19 current outbreaks in senior care facilities and also acute care areas at Chilliwack General, Kootenay Boundary and Fort St. John hospitals.
From Sept. 15-21, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 75.5% of cases and from Sept. 8-21, they accounted for 82.6% of hospitalizations. After factoring for age, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control calculates that people not vaccinated are 25.8 times more likely to be hospitalized than those fully vaccinated.
As of Wednesday, 87.1% (4,038,966) of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 79.7% (3,692,922) received their second dose.
B.C. health authorities continue to operate scheduled appointment and walk-in COVID-19 vaccination clinics around the province. A full list of clinic locations and hours by region can be found here. Registration and booking appointments in B.C. can be done here, or by calling 1-833-838-2323 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. seven days a week.
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New and active cases by region for Sept. 23:
• 377 new cases in Fraser Health, 1,932 active
• 114 new cases in Vancouver Coastal Health, 909 active
• 153 new cases in Interior Health, 1,181 active
* Total active cases: 1,181
•117 new cases in Northern Health, 977 active
• 71 new cases in Island Health, 654 active
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