The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Northern Health region has increased to 16.
B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the number of confirmed cases in B.C. increased by 53 on Wednesday, rising to 1,066. There was one confirmed fatality from COVID-19 in the Fraser Health region, bringing the province's death toll from the pandemic to 25.
"This is a very difficult time for us, we don't know what is going to happen," Henry said. "Without a doubt we will get through this, but we have a few more weeks to go. The more committed we are right now, the less those outside the health care system will have to do later."
Across the province, 142 people were currently hospitalized with the disease, 67 of which were in critical care, she said.
In the Northern Heath region there were no new hospitalizations, with the number of people who had ever been hospitalized for COVID-19 staying at five from Tuesday. However, the number of people hospitalized in the north has more than doubled since last week – only two people had been hospitalized for COVID-19 in Northern Health on March 27.
COVID-19 patients in northern B.C. were more likely to be younger and female than the provincial average. Ten out of the 16 confirmed cases in Northern Health were female, including the patient diagnosed on Wednesday.
Across the province, 55 per cent of COVID-19 patients are female.
The median age of COVID-19 patients in Northern Health was 51 years, compared to the provincial median of 53 years. And the median age of COVID-19 patients hospitalized was significantly lower in the north than elsewhere – 49 years in Northern Health, compared to 68 years province-wide.
No COVID-19 patients have died in the north, but the median age of patients who have died provincially was 85 years.
The number of COVID-19 patients in B.C. who had fully recovered increased by 99 in one day, up to 606 people on Wednesday. However, the number of patients recovered in Northern Health has remained at five since March 25.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said now is not the time for British Columbians to relax their vigilance about social distancing, hand washing and other safety measures.
"There are lots of people who have had to make extraordinary sacrifices in their lives," Dix said. "We can't stop now, we just cannot. We need to bend the curve, we need to stop the spread of COVID-19 and we need to be 100 per cent all-in."
