COVID-19

1,344 cases of COVID-19 over the weekend in B.C., 104 in Northern Health

Jan 25, 2021 | 3:37 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — British Columbia’s provincial government announced 1,344 new cases of COVID-19 in B.C. over the weekend, including 104 in the Northern Health region.

There are 4,392 active cases of the virus in B.C., 328 people are in hospital, 68 of whom are in intensive care.

Sadly, 26 more deaths bringing the provincial death toll to 1,152.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says B.C. has had five cases of the UK variant.

She says those are all related to travel or close contact to travellers. There have been three cases of the South African variant.

A total of 64,828 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in B.C. since the pandemic began, of those, 57,831 have recovered.

“To date, 119,850 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C., 3,193 of which are second doses. Immunization data is available on the COVID-19 dashboard: www.bccdc.ca,” says Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix.

“As a result of the limited supply of vaccine in the next two weeks, we will be delaying second doses until day 42, until we have assurance that vaccine supply has fully resumed. This is about doing our best to give as many people as possible the protection of a first dose.”

They also shared the following stark warning.

“In the last couple of weeks, we have plateaued at about 500 new cases of COVID-19 a day. And, while the number of long-term care outbreaks has slowed, we continue to see new outbreaks in hospitals and in the community.

“This may seem stable to some, but it is a precarious situation for all of us. This shows us that while we are slowing the spread in long-term care, the risks remain high because the virus continues to circulate in our communities.

“We are at the threshold of where we were in November when cases started rapidly escalating, and we need to put a stop to this before more people become severely ill and our health-care system faces even more strain.

“Getting to the brighter days, easing the public health restrictions in our province relies on what we do now. That is why we need your help.

“We need everyone to remember that COVID-19 is still the unwelcome guest in our homes, at work and in our communities, and to take a step back; to stay home and stay away from others, and perhaps do more than what you have done before to slow the spread.”