Acute care occupancy in B.C has been reduced by 25 percent through the cancellation of non-urgent elective surgery that was announced earlier this past week.
Prior to the COVID-19 response, B.C. averaged about 103.5 percent capacity. Health Minister Adrian Dix said as of Friday that capacity is now at 78.5 percent.
Dix said in addition, their critical care beds are at almost 62 percent capacity.
“It shows how much we’ve learned from other jurisdictions,” he said. “We’ve acted and our actions have had consequences for a lot of people as you can see in these bed numbers but we’ve acted now to ensure that our acute care sector, that our hospitals are more prepared for a possible surge or influx of patients.”
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 continues to increase in B.C.
348 people as of Friday have tested positive for COVID-19 including 19 in the Interior Health Authority and four in Northern Health.
Six British Columbians have recovered and nine have died.
Dix and Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry will be providing a further update on the COVID-19 pandemic Saturday at noon.