COVID-19: BC hospitalizations remain below 1,000, 9 more deaths reported | The Canadian News

British Columbia reported nine more COVID-19-related deaths on Friday as the number of cases in the hospital again dropped to just under 1,000.

Health officials said there were 990 positive cases in BC hospitals, an overnight increase of 13, along with 141 cases in critical or intensive care.

Officials confirmed another 2,137 new cases for a known total of 30,515 active cases in BC, although the number of cases no longer reflects the actual spread of the virus due to testing restrictions.

There were seven new healthcare outbreaks, including one at Nanaimo Regional Hospital, one at Cowichan District Hospital and five in long-term care.

As of Friday, 86.9 percent of BC’s population (89.8 percent of those eligible) had one dose of vaccine, 81.1 percent of all British Columbians (83.8 percent of those eligible) had had two doses, and 39.4 percent of the population (43.9 percent of those eligible) had three doses.

For the second consecutive day, the province said its daily update on the breakdown of cases and hospitalizations according to vaccination status was not available.

However, data released Friday by the BC Centers for Disease Control covering the period from 28 December to 24 January showed that unvaccinated people were still excessively affected by the serious outcomes of the virus.

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Per 100,000 population, there were 161.8 unvaccinated people in the hospital compared to 53.9 vaccinated people, 31 unvaccinated people in ICUs compared to 7.3 unvaccinated people, and 13.7 deaths among the unvaccinated people, compared to three among the vaccinated.

Earlier Friday, dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer and Adrian Dix, health minister, celebrated the two-year anniversary of the confirmation of BC’s first case of COVID-19.

“There were five waves, many variants and probably many more to come,” Henry said, adding that under the current, widespread transmission of the virus’s Omicron variant, contact detection was no longer a realistic option.

In the two years since the BC pandemic began, the province has reported 321,043 total cases and 2,597 deaths.

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