(Files by Dione Wearmouth-MyPGNow)
BC saw a staggering 737 new cases of COVID-19, with 82 of those in Northern Health.
There were 33 new cases announced for Interior Health.
There are 5,207 active cases across BC while 9,412 people under active public health monitoring.
Of the active cases, 292 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 85 of whom are in ICU.
68 new Variant of Concern (VOC) cases were found in BC, there are now 149 active VOC cases in the province.
To date, 490,022 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII vaccines have been administered, 87,139 of which are second doses.
Meanwhile, Health officials announced yesterday (Thursday), that BC residents aged 70-79 will be able to begin booking vaccine appointments as early as Sunday.
However, Northern Health residents have been asked to check the NH website for their specific COVID-19 vaccine community schedule to determine what ages are being vaccinated in their community.
There have been two new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 1,421 deaths in BC.
“The availability of the AstraZeneca/SII COVID-19 vaccine has allowed us to create a parallel vaccine program to our age-based provincewide immunization program,” explained PHO, Dr.Bonnie Henry, “It is separate supply that supplements and adds onto the age-based vaccines, allowing us to strategically target active outbreaks and higher-risk populations and locations.
Northern: 5,048 (+82)
Interior: 7,966 (+33)
Vancouver: 21,212 (+163)
Fraser: 52,972(+462)
Vancouver Island: 2,864 (+32)