BC holds its COVID-19 line over the weekend with much the same results as week previous; though results marked by 13 additional deaths recorded from Friday to Sunday

British Columbia continued to see an average of new cases in the low to mid 400's over the weekend, though a glimmer of hope for further reductions was seen when the new case reports declined by a significant measure.

Those notes, some additional info on vaccines and the prospect of a reduction of restrictions should British Columbia residents hold the line all made for an in person presentation today from Doctor Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix.

"Today, we are reporting on three periods. From Feb. 5 to 6, we had 428 new cases. From Feb. 6 to 7, we had 465 new cases and in the last 24-hours, we had a further 343 new cases. 

This results in a total of 1,236 new cases, including five epi-linked cases, for a total of 70,952 cases in British Columbia. 

There are 3,976 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. 

There are 234 individuals currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 69 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation. 

Currently, 6,923 people are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and a further 65,605 people who tested positive have recovered. 

There have been 13 new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 1,259 deaths in British Columbia. We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost loved ones to COVID-19."

Across the province, the Health Authority's reported the following case counts for the weekend: 266 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 601 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 86 in the Island Health region, 152 in the Interior Health region

There were 131 new cases recorded  in the Northern Health region which brings the total number of cases in the North to 3,812, with 87 confirmed deaths for the region since January of 2020.

There were no reports of any new cases of people in British Columbia who reside outside of Canada. 

As for the vaccination process so far; to date, 154,496 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C., 12,111 of which are second doses. 

The two top public health officials returned to a theme from Friday of how the measures of today will assist in the ability to lessen the impact of restrictions in the not too distant future.

“Our focus right now is to clear our path of any hurdles, so we can ease restrictions that much faster. 

We are watching closely for the further spread of the variants of concern. With each day we stop transmission of the virus – no matter what the variant – we are buying time to get our immunization program back on track and giving ourselves the protective buffer we need. 

We thank everyone, especially our restaurant sector and customers, for doing their part this weekend to help us continue to flatten our curve. The choices we make today, as well as the plans we make for tomorrow, make a difference. 

By avoiding travel now, we will have much more to enjoy and many more places to visit in the weeks ahead. 

Let’s continue to push our curve down by staying small, staying local and using our layers of protection. This will ensure we have the protection we need when we once again see our friends, hugs our grandparents and enjoy all that is spectacular in our province.”

You can can review more of today's statement here.   

BC CDC Data for British Columbia as of February 8, 2021

BC CDC Data for Northern Health as of February 8, 2021

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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