The province’s COVID-19 daily cases continue to hover near the 1,000 mark.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.'s provincial health officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health have issued a written statement today (April 5) reporting a two-day total of 1,889 new cases.
"Today, we are reporting two periods: April 3 to 4, we had 999 cases, and in the last 24-hours, we had a further 890 cases for a two-day total of 1,889 new cases.”
On April 3 for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic reached B.C. in January 2020, the province recorded consecutive daily case counts of more than 1,000 each with 1,018 on April 2 and 1,072 on April 3.
However, officials say those figures were provisional and have since been confirmed as 1,074 cases over April 1 to 2 and 1,077 cases over April 2 to 3.
Combined, this results in a four-day case count of 4,040 new cases, for a total of 104,061 cases in British Columbia to date.
#BREAKING - B.C. records 1,889 in the past two days, per health officials. #bcpoli #covidbc #covid19bc #covid19 #bced #cdnpoli #cityofpg @PGMatters
— Jess Balzer (@jessicajbalzer) April 5, 2021
Northern Health found 95 of those new cases for an updated regional authority total of 6,171.
In B.C. there are currently 8,490 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 11,989 people under public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases.
Of the active cases, 318 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 96 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation
A further 94,806 people who tested positive have recovered. Since April 1 there have been 23 new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 1,486 deaths in British Columbia.
The numbers of variants-of-concern cases also continue to trend upwards.
Since April 1, there have been 916 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern in B.C. for a total of 3,559 cases (588 are active). This includes:
- 2,771 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant,
- 51 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant
- 737 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant
However, B.C. continues to move forward with its vaccination plan. To date, 893,590 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,472 of which are second doses.
Online COVID-19 vaccine booking is also set to launch in British Columbia on Tuesday as the province enters Phase 3 of its immunization rollout ahead of schedule
A provincewide online registration system was originally supposed to open April 12, but Premier John Horgan says in a news release that the early launch marks a "major milestone" in B.C.'s fight against COVID-19.
"As of 8 a.m. tomorrow, all people 71 years and older, Indigenous peoples 18 and older, and those who have received their 'clinically extremely vulnerable' letter in the mail may book their vaccine appointment online, by telephone through B.C.'s new provincial call-in centre or in-person at a Service BC location,” says Dix and Henry in the statement.
"The more people we can protect with vaccines, the more protection is extended to our communities, our province and Canada as a whole.”
Residents may register online when it is their turn and receive a confirmation code, before waiting for an email, text or call telling them they are eligible and booking their vaccine appointment.
The online system is available at gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated and the toll-free provincial call centre number is 1-833-838-2323.
Dix and Henry continue to highlight the importance of the vaccination campaign as well as following provincial health guidelines in order to combat the virus.
"We know this virus is constantly changing and some of the new variants can spread more easily, but the same measures we know can still stop the spread and we have safe and effective vaccines on our side now. It is more important than ever to stay on track with our vaccination programs, continue to use all our layers of protection all the time and follow the provincial health orders and guidelines.”
