There are 1,428 new cases of COVID-19 over a 72 hour period. There are 504 new cases from Fri to Sat, 475 from Sat to Sun, then 449 from Sunday to Monday. A total of 77,263 cases in BC.
Over the last three days there have been 8 COVID-19 deaths. There have been 1,335 COVID-19 deaths in BC.
There are 223 people in hospital with COVID-19. There are 66 people in ICU. There are 4,560 active cases of COVID-19 in BC.
The province has administered 218,726 doses of the vaccine, 55,057 are second doses. The province has received 243,490 doses of the COVID vaccine.
So far 71,313 people have recovered in BC from COVID-19.
Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix a reported two new health-care facility outbreaks at Vancouver General Hospital and Kelowna General Hospital, while several outbreaks have been declared over, including at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops and Abbotsford Regional Hospital.
They say there is also a community outbreak at Grand River Foods, a food processing plant in Abbotsford, B.C., which the Fraser Health authority closed after 22 employees tested positive for COVID-19.
The joint statement says there are 28 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 variants of concern in B.C., for a total of 101 cases and two variants that are under investigation.
Of the total number of variant cases, they say four are active and the remaining 97 have now recovered — including 81 of the strain first found in the United Kingdom, 31 of the strain first detected in South Africa and two of the strain first identified in Nigeria.
"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," Henry and Dix say in the statement.
"This is the case whether at work, at school or at home."
Seven schools in the Fraser Valley have reported cases involving a COVID-19 variant of concern, but the province has not moved to implement a request of the B.C. Teachers' Federation to expand the mask mandate to elementary school students.
Dr. Reka Gustafson, deputy provincial health officer, said at a news conference Monday the policy on masks in schools is based on the ability of individuals to comply with it.
Henry and Dix said in their statement that as community transmission continues, B.C. residents need to continue to use all of the layers of protection, to continue to keep to their 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."
