In what will be one of the last daily COVID-19 reports, the Ministry of Health reported 11 new cases of COVID-19 in the Northern Health region on Tuesday.
B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced that as of Friday, proof of vaccination will no longer be required at restaurants, theatres and other places. However, businesses may choose to require patrons to show proof of vaccination, she said.
Henry also announced that the province would move to reporting COVID-19 statistics on a weekly basis, starting on Thursday. That change will also come with a change in the way the province reports COVID-related deaths, she said.
The change may mean that COVID-related deaths are “over-counted” early on, but the numbers will be adjusted and corrected as additional information comes in, she said. No update on COVID-related deaths in the province was provided on Tuesday.
As of Tuesday there were 334 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in B.C., including 35 in intensive care, the Ministry of Health reported. A breakdown of cases by health authority wasn’t provided.
As of Friday, there were 19 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the Northern Health region the B.C. Centre for Disease Control reported. Five of those people were listed in critical care.
The province stopped reporting the number of active COVID-19 cases in February.
As of Tuesday, 90.9 per cent of eligible British Columbians (aged five and older) had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 87.4 per cent had received a second dose. In addition, 57.8 per cent of people aged 12 and older had received a booster shot.
The unvaccinated made up 12 per cent of the B.C. population, but 17 per cent of COVID-19 critical care patients in B.C. hospitals, the Ministry of Health reported.
A total of 11.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C. As of Friday, 528,122 doses had been administered in the Northern Health region, the B.C. CDC reported.
