The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed two more lives in the Northern Health region.
They were among seven reported in the province on Wednesday, and brought the region's death toll from the pandemic to 109, according to data released by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. The provincial death toll from COVID-19 rose to 1,372.
"We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost loved ones to COVID-19," provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and health minister Adrian Dix said in a joint statement.
The Northern Health region had 44 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, but the number of active cases dropped from 270 on Tuesday down to 268, according to B.C. CDC data.
The seven-day moving average for new cases in the region stood at 35.7 as of Tuesday, compared to 33.9 on Monday.
Twenty-three people in the region were hospitalized with COVID-19, down by seven from Tuesday, but the number in critical care rose by one to 12.
A total of 8,971 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, have been distributed in the north, an addition of 241 since Tuesday, including 2,492 second doses.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 4,693 cases of COVID-19 in the Northern Health region.
"Our goal is to protect as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, through the available COVID-19 vaccines. With a single primer dose, these vaccines are helping to stop outbreaks and reduce serious illness and death," Henry and Dix said.
"Setting the second booster dose at 16 weeks allows us to expand the number of people who will have access to these safe and effective vaccines, and may provide more durable and longer lasting protection.
"We are pleased to see that today, the National Advisory Council on Immunization, as well as Canada's Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health, have endorsed this approach.
"More people vaccinated - whether in Nanaimo, Nelson or North Vancouver - makes all of us safer. Until we have that next level of community protection, so does staying the course with our safety measures, staying small and local. Let's keep going and get to those post-pandemic days."
