Only one new case of COVID-19 in B.C. on Friday

There continues to be no active cases of COVID-19 in the Northern Health region, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control reported on Friday.

A total of 76 people were tested in northern B.C. between Thursday's update and Friday, and all were found not have the disease the B.C. CDC reported. There has been a total of 64 cases of COVID-19 in the north since the start of the pandemic and no deaths.

"Today, we are announcing one new case, for a total of 2,632 cases in British Columbia. One case from yesterday's total was removed due to a data correction," a joint statement issued by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said. "There are 193 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 2,272 people who tested positive have recovered."

Of the remaining active cases, 21 people in B.C. were hospitalized, including five in intensive care.

"There has been one new COVID-19 related death in the Fraser Health region, for a total of 167 deaths in British Columbia," the joint statement said. "We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic."

Public health officials are continuing to monitor five active outbreaks in long-term care and assisted living facilities, and eight community outbreaks.

"As the recent B.C. COVID-19 modelling has shown us, we can safely reopen many businesses, return to in-class learning and gradually increase our social interactions, but we have to be cautious that we don't go too far and risk a resurgence in cases," the joint statement said. "The key is to minimize, manage and modify: minimize the number of new cases and close contacts, manage clusters and outbreaks with rapid contact tracing by public health teams and modify the measures we are all following, as needed."