Daily totals decline to 516 cases of COVID, however 10 deaths recorded over last 24 hours

Friday's COVID Review offered up another day of scaling back the case reports, making for the second day in a row for declines from the record setting highs of earlier this week, that however was tempered by the sad duty to report on another ten passings as a result of the coronavirus in the province.

Today's information were relayed through a statement from Doctor Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix. 

"Today, we are reporting 516 new cases of COVID-19, including three epi-linked cases, for a total of 25,474 cases in British Columbia. 

There are 7,122 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. There are 227 individuals currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 57 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation. 

Currently, 10,002 people are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and 17,477 people who tested positive have recovered. 

There have been 10 new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 331 deaths in British Columbia. We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic."

Reports from across the Health Authorities indicated that there were 148 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 294 in the Fraser Health region, 17 in the Island Health region, 31 in the Interior Health region, there were  25 cases recorded in the Northern Health region, bringing the Northern Health total since January to 588.

There have been no new cases of COVID-19 Recorded in people who reside outside of Canada. 

To bring the week to an end, Dr. Henry and Minister Dix reviewed how the measures introduced on Thursday will give British Columbians the tools required to bring down the curve.

“Yesterday, new and expanded provincial health officer's orders came into effect around the province. The orders will help us slow the spread of COVID-19; to relieve the pressure on our health-care system and reduce the risks within our communities. 

The provincewide orders are about all of us seeing fewer people, having safer workplaces and pausing higher risk activities. 

The orders on social gatherings and events are to keep our families and friends safe. The best way to do that is to decrease our social interactions and spend as little time as possible with those outside of our immediate household. 

In our workplaces, we want to be using all of the tools and resources to keep employees and customers safe and, importantly, keep as many businesses as possible open.

We also strongly recommend that everyone focus on essential travel only and put aside recreational or social travel for now. It is not about community boundaries, it is about only going where we really need to right now. 

We are all feeling the strain of COVID-19. By taking a step back right now, we will all be able to enjoy the confidence in knowing that here in B.C. we have flattened our curve once again."

How the province intends to enforce the new measures and expand oversight on the existing ones was outlined by Mike Farnworth, the Minister of Public Safety and Solictor General who provided the update with a statement of his own.

You can review today's full COVID-19 statement here.  

The BC Centre for Disease control has some valuable Coronavirus notes related to COVID-19 you can explore that information here.

You can learn more about the outbreak from both the Province and the Federal government from the links below:

Federal Government site

British Columbia Government site

The World Health Organization website also offers up the latest advisories on the global situation.

More from  Northern Health can be reviewed here 

You can review our archive of past statements and local information here.

Local governments and organizations have also provided for increased awareness of COVID-19 issues, those past advisories  can be reviewed here.

For notes from across Canada and British Columbia we have been archiving the latest items through our political portal Darcy McGee

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