617 British Columbians have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Tuesday.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry released the latest figures and says 41 of those are in the Interior Health Authority and 9 in Northern Health.
“This is a reflection of the fact that we are seeing escalating numbers across the British Columbia,” she says. “We know that there is circulation and there is risk across the province right now. The majority of our cases are in the Lower Mainland but no community in this province is immune.”
Henry says they know this virus can spread with people having very minimal symptoms and that is their rationale for making sure that we all take physical distancing measures.
Two additional long-care homes are involved in COVID-19 outbreaks including Little Mountain Place in Vancouver Coastal Health and Evergreen Heights in Fraser Health.
The number of people hospitalized to COVID-19 has also increased.
59 cases are hospitalized with 23 in intensive care.
“There is no chance that we will beat this if we leave the work to others; that each of us doesn’t play our role, we need everyone to. We must take care of all of us,” Health Minister Adrian Dix says. “The number of cases we’ve been seeing will continue to rise, it will. The next few weeks will be very, very difficult. It will be sometime before we see the change we are working towards, but what happens today matters in that change, what matters today matters in April and in the months that follow that, and we must make the effort now so those that those efforts will pay off.”
13 people have died in B.C. from COVID-19. A total of 173 people have fully recovered.