Health officials in B.C have stated that the province has registered 873 new infections as of Tuesday, even as the figures involving variants of concern hit 5000 confirmed cases.
In a statement present by Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix, the province has about 5221 infections involving the variants B117, B1351, and P.1, with 258 of these being active.
As a result of unknown data challenges that prevented the two from sharing more on weekend variants, health officials have not issued updates on incidences involving variants of concern since the last update, which had concerns about 4111 infections.
In the last briefing, Dr. Henry said that 50 percent of all cases involve at least one of the variants in the province.
Dr. Henry added that a great majority of the cases they have detected involve the fast-spreading U.K variant. However, they have also registered 1529 cases involving the variant P.1, which is worrying epidemiologists across the globe due to its ability to affect many vaccines’ efficacy.
The two also said there had been two more fatalities relating to the virus.
Overall, active cases currently stand at 113720, with 1515 deaths since the pandemic started.
Active cases declined by 181 from the previous 9937, while the weekly average declined to 1102 from the initial high of 1129.
The number of those under intensive care also went down to 116 from the previous high of 121, although overall hospitalization rose to 377. This is a few patients away from the 381 admissions registered on the 6th of January.
The rising toll on the local health system has forced authorities to divert health practitioners from surgery rooms leading to delay in operations.
