101 variant cases across BC

Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.'s provincial health officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, have issued the following joint statement regarding updates on the COVID-19 response in British Columbia:

"Today, we are reporting three periods: from Feb. 19 to 20, we had 504 new cases, from Feb. 20 to 21 we had 475 new cases, and in the last 24 hours we had a further 449 new cases.

"This results in a total of 1,428 new cases, for a total of 77,263 cases in British Columbia.

"There are 4,560 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 7,768 people under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and a further 71,313 people who tested positive have recovered.

"Of the active cases, 223 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 63 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.

"Since we last reported, we have had 358 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 805 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 99 in the Island Health region, 67 in the Interior Health region, 99 in the Northern Health region and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

"To date, 218,726 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C., 55,057 of which are second doses. Immunization data is available on the COVID-19 dashboard: www.bccdc.ca

"There have been eight new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 1,335 deaths in British Columbia. We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost loved ones to COVID-19.

"There have been two new health-care facility outbreaks at Vancouver General Hospital and Kelowna General Hospital. The outbreaks at Royal Inland Hospital, Abbotsford Regional Hospital, Eagle Ridge Manor and Carrington Place Retirement Residence are over.

"There is also a community outbreak Grand River Foods.

"There are 28 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 variants of concern in our province, for a total of 101 cases and two cases of variants that are under invesigation. Of the total number of cases, four are active and the remaining 97 have now recovered.

"This includes 81 B.1.1.7 (UK), 20 B.1.31 (South Africa) and two B.1.525 (Nigeria) variants, the latter of which is under investigation. Of these confirmed cases, 58 are in Fraser Health, 38 are in Vancouver Coastal Health, four are in Island Heath and three are in the Interior Health regions.

"It is important to know that while these COVID-19 variants of concern have shown to transmit more easily, the measures we take to stop the spread are exactly the same as what we have been doing since the start of the pandemic. This is the case whether at work, at school or at home.

"As community transmission continues, we all need to continue to use all of the layers of protection, to continue to keep to our households only, and to avoid travel unless it is absolutely necessary.

"No matter what the variant, COVID-19 can spread before someone has any symptoms of illness. This is what makes breaking the chain of transmission difficult and what makes our individual actions all the more important.

"We are all susceptible to contracting the virus and passing it onto others, so each day that we recommit to taking the necessary precautions helps to protect us and gets us closer to where we want to be."