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 two periods: April 3 to 4, we had 999 cases, and in the last 24-hours, we had a further 890 cases for a two-day total of 1,889 new cases.
“These periods are in addition to April 1 to 2, when we reported 1,018 cases, and April 2 and 3, when we reported 1,072 cases. Those figures were provisional and have since been confirmed as 1,074 cases over April 1 to 2 and 1,077 cases over April 2 to 3.
“Combined, this results in a four-day case count of 4,040 new cases, for a total of 104,061 cases in British Columbia to date.
"There are 8,490 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 11,989 people under public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases. A further 94,806 people who tested positive have recovered.
“Of the active cases, 318 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 96 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 579 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 986 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 100 in the Island Health region, 129 in the Interior Health region, 95 in the Northern Health region and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.
“Since April 1, there have been 916 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern in our province, for a total of 3,559 cases (588 are active). This includes 2,771 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 51 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant and 737 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant.
“There have been 23 new COVID-19 related deaths since April 1, for a total of 1,486 deaths in British Columbia.
“To date, 893,590 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,472 of which are second doses.
“The Province is moving ahead with its COVID-19 Immunization Plan ahead of schedule, and launching “Get Vaccinated”, B.C.’s online and telephone registration and booking system.
“As of 8 a.m. tomorrow, all people 71 years and older, Indigenous peoples 18 and older, and those who have received their 'clinically extremely vulnerable' letter in the mail may book their vaccine appointment online, by telephone through B.C.’s new provincial call-in centre or in-person at a Service BC location.
“The more people we can protect with vaccines, the more protection is extended to our communities, our province and Canada as a whole.
“We know this virus is constantly changing and some of the new variants can spread more easily, but the same measures we know can still stop the spread and we have safe and effective vaccines on our side now. It is more important than ever to stay on track with our vaccination programs, continue to use all our layers of protection all the time and follow the provincial health orders and guidelines.
“If anyone in your family or household is feeling unwell, get tested and stay home from school or work. This is especially important for anyone who has been travelling in these past weeks, as transmission has increased.
“Now is not the time to bend the rules – it’s time for us to work together again to bend the curve. It’s not easy, but it’s the right thing to do for our loved ones, for our local businesses and for the communities we live in.”