COVID-19 update for March 24: Health officials report 269 new cases, one death | Rapid tests available for everyone 18 and older in BC | Singapore extends quarantine-free entry

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Here’s your daily update with everything you need to know on the coronavirus situation in BC for March 24, 2022.

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We’ll provide summaries of what’s going on in BC right here so you can get the latest news at a glance. This page will be updated regularly throughout the day, with developments added as they happen.

Check back here for more updates throughout the day. You can also get the latest COVID-19 news delivered to your inbox weeknights at 7 pm by subscribing to our newsletter here.

BC’S COVID-19 CASE NUMBERS

Here are the latest figures given on March 23:

• Total number of confirmed cases: 354,603
• New cases: 269
• Total deaths: 2,975 (one in the past 24 hours)
• Hospitalized cases: 258
• Intensive care: 49
• Total vaccinations: 4,526,085 received first dose (90.8% of eligible pop. 5+); 4,341,506 second doses (87.1%); 2,648,785 third doses (57.1% of those 12+)
• Long-term care and assisted-living homes, and acute care facilities currently affected: Five

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A FONDO: Here are all the BC cases of the novel coronavirus in 2021 | in 2020

BC GUIDES AND LINKS

• COVID-19: BC’s vaccine passport is here and this is how it works

• COVID-19: Afraid of needles? Here’s how to overcome your fear and get vaccinated

• COVID-19: Here’s where to get tested in Metro Vancouver

• BC COVID-19 Symptom Self-Assessment Tool

LATEST NEWS on COVID-19 in BC

3 pm or later – Health officials are set to share latest figures on COVID-19 in BC

Health officials are expected to update the number of COVID-19 cases, deaths and recoveries across the province.

One death reported Wednesday, hospitalizations up slightly

BC recorded a slight uptick in hospitalizations on Wednesday along with one more death from COVID-19, in the Northern Health region.

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A total of 2,975 people have died of the coronavirus in the province since the start of the pandemic.

There are 258 people in hospital with the virus, up four from a day earlier; 49 of them are in intensive care, up one over Tuesday’s report.

There are no new outbreaks in acute and long-term care, leaving five facilities across the province dealing with an outbreak.

In the two weeks ending March 21, 23.8 of every 100,000 unvaccinated people were hospitalized with COVID-19, compared with 5.8 out of every 100,000 fully vaccinated people.

Put another way, those numbers suggest you’re more than four times as likely to wind up in hospital with the virus if you haven’t been vaccinated.

—Joseph Ruttle

Rapid tests available for everyone 18 and older in BC

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Beginning today, rapid antigen test kits area available at participating pharmacies across the province for all people age 18 and older.

You can pick up one kit consisting of five tests every four weeks at no cost. You must present your personal health number when picking it up, or if someone is getting it for you, they must have your name, health number and date of birth.

Health officials recommend you pick up a kit while asymptomatic for future use, not when you think you have COVID-19. The tests should only be used, however, if you have developed symptoms.

—Joseph Ruttle

One-third of BC’s health-care workers willing to quit in next two years: poll

Just over a third of BC’s health-care workers say they’re ready to quit in the next two years, after having already endured two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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A new poll released Wednesday by the Hospital Employees’ Union noted that 34.4 per cent of respondents said they were considering leaving the health-care field entirely, while 75.2 per cent say they’ve experienced burnout as a result of the pandemic working conditions.

“There’s no question that many health-care workers are at the breaking point, exhausted by all they’ve been through,” said Meena Brisard, spokesperson with the HEU. “And we should all be very concerned about what that means for our health-care system going forward.”

Singapore extends quarantine-free entry as Asia shifts to ‘living with COVID’

Singapore said on Thursday it will lift quarantine requirements for all vaccinated travelers from next month, joining a string of countries in Asia moving more firmly toward a “living with the virus” approach.

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Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the financial hub will also drop requirements to wear masks outdoors and allow larger groups to gather.

“Our fight against COVID-19 has reached a major turning point,” Lee said in a televised speech that was also streamed on Facebook. “We will be making a decisive move towards living with COVID-19.”

Singapore was one of the first countries to shift from a containment strategy to new normal COVID for its 5.5 million population, but had to slow some of its easing plans due to subsequent outbreaks.

Now, as infection arises caused by the Omicron variant begin to subside in most countries in the region and vaccination rates improve, Singapore and other nations are removing a host of social distancing measures designed to stop the spread of the virus.

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—Reuters

DEATHS BY HEALTH AUTHORITY

WHAT’S HAPPENING ACROSS CANADA

LOCAL RESOURCES for COVID-19 information

Here are a number of information and landing pages for COVID-19 from various health and government agencies.

• BC COVID-19 Symptom Self-Assessment Tool

• Vancouver Coastal Health – Information on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

• HealthLink BC – Coronavirus (COVID-19) information page

• BC Center for Disease Control – Novel coronavirus (COVID-19)

• Government of Canada – Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Outbreak update

• World Health Organization – Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak

–with files from The Canadian Press