(Files by Catherine Garrett-MyPGNow)
The amount of active cases of COVID-19 in BC has seen a major decrease.
B.C. Health Officials say 4,134 active infections remain, down by 423 since Friday.
Over the weekend, British Columbia saw an increase of 1158, including 194 in Interior Health and 98 in Northern Health.
3,489 of the province’s 67, 937 infections have been in the north, while Interior Health’s total is now up to 6,345.
Breakdown by day:
Fri – Sat: 408
Sat-Sun: 473
Sun-Mon: 277
Provincial Health Officer Doctor Bonnie Henry says there are now 18 COVID-19 variant cases.
Four of which are the South African Variant, three unlinked and one linked, all in Vancouver Coastal.
There have been 14 UK Variant cases, including 7 new cases.
Seven are travel related.
Eight of the cases are in Fraser, one in the Interior, four are on Vancouver Island.
So far, Northern Health has not reported a variant case.
The province is doing random sampling testing in virus hotspots, and genome sequencing will be done for all cases of COVID-19 detected in school-aged children.
Doctor Henry says the random testing will be done with rapid and PCR tests.
She adds the highest concern in BC is community spread of the variants in the province.
Meanwhile, there are 289 people in hospital and 79 people in ICU.
21 people have died from COVID-19 in the past 72 hours for a total of 1,210.
For vaccines, 138,892 people have received single doses and 4,491 have gotten their second dose.
The province has hired the Red Cross to provide non-clinical support services at certain Long Term Care homes, beginning with Lower Mainland facilities.
32 outbreaks are ongoing in the healthcare system.
Breakdown:
Van Coastal: 15,626 (+295)
Fraser: 40,677 (+493)
Island: 1,675 (+78)
Interior: 6,345 (+194)
North: 3,489 (+98)
Other countries: 139