B.C. health officials announced on Wednesday that 542 more cases of COVID-19 had been added to the provincial list of active cases. That brings the currently active cases in the province to 4 654. In that number, 264 are in hospital, with 64 of them under intensive care.
Dr. Bonnie Henry announced Health Minister Adrain Dix. Dix said that seven more COVID-19 related deaths had been recorded. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the province has reported 81 909 cases and 1 372 associated deaths.
On the ongoing vaccination, 289 809 doses have been administered, including 86, 616-second doses shots. However, the Canadian National Advisory Committee on Immunization has issued guidance regarding administering the second dose.
The committee recommends that a four-month gap separate the first and the second shot. However, the B.C. had already announced the separation space of four months on Monday.
Dix told reporters that the separation would allow the province to give the first shot to more people. In a joint statement, Dix and Henry said that the province’s priority is to protect more people from contracting COVID-19.
Henry, however, added that there will still be a need to follow the public health measures as the vaccination goes on. There are 18 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 variants in the province. In total, 200 cases of the variants have been reported in B.C.