Five new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the Northern Health area since Saturday, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said on Monday.
The total number of cases reported in the north since the beginning of the outbreak rose to 39 on Monday. Three people were hospitalized from the disease in the north as of Monday, B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said, up from two on Friday. However the number of those hospitalized who were in critical care remained steady at two, according to information released by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
There were seven cases of COVID-19 in B.C. linked to the outbreak at Imperial Oil's Kearl Lake oil sands facility in Alberta, Henry said. The Kearl Lake project is located approximately 130 kilometres northeast of Fort McMurray.
"Both Interior and Northern Health have cases related to Kearl Lake," Henry said. "Right now I'm ordering anyone who has been in the Kearl Lake project to self isolate for 14 days."
Anyone in B.C. who returned from Kearl Lake and is exhibiting any of the symptoms linked to COVID-19 should call 811 to arrange for testing, Henry said. Those who returned more than two weeks ago and exhibited any symptoms related to COVID-19, or has family members who are now showing symptoms linked to COVID-19, should also call 811.
A division of the seven of cases linked to the Kearl Lake oil sands between Interior and Northern Health wasn't provided. On Friday, Alberta's chief medical health officer reported there were 12 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Alberta linked to the outbreak.
Between Saturday and Monday, the total number of COVID-19 cases in B.C. increased by 52, for a total of 1,699 cases confirmed since the start of the pandemic.
Five more people have died of COVID-19 in B.C, three on Saturday and two on Sunday, bringing the death toll of the pandemic in B.C. to 86, Henry said. Northern Health remains the only health region in the province to not record a death linked to COVID-19.
Across B.C. 104 people were hospitalized from the disease, of which 49 were in critical care. A total of 1,039 people in B.C. have fully recovered from COVID-19, including 30 people in the Northern Health region.
"We must continue to hold our line," Henry said. "We have to be sure we don't let up too soon and make everything we've done over the past six weeks for nothing."
