For a second time in the same week, health authorities in B.C have reported that the province has no fatalities due to the Coronavirus, according to their reports presented last Tuesday. The officials credit this feat to the province’s vaccination of seniors in care facilities. The officials also pointed out that immunization doesn’t guarantee that an outbreak will not occur in such settings.
B. C’s infection rate has been stuck at 5000 for the past few days, even as hospitalization rates have been climbing. The health officials noted that about 280 persons are currently hospitalized as of Tuesday. The highest the province has experienced since the 2nd of February. About 84 of those are under intensive care.
Variants of concern are also on the rise. B. C’s Health Minister Adrian Dix and chief Medical officer Dr. Bonnie Henry stated that they had confirmed an additional 116 variant infections, bringing 996130 active cases.
The U.K variant B117 makes up most of the infection, which currently stands at 921. The two also said that they had confirmed 41 infections of the South African variant B1351 and 34 of the Brazilian variant P1.
The province’s vaccination rollout has been on a high note, with 15414 additional immunizations issued since the last press briefing this past Monday, with the total at 424517 presently. This includes about 337447 phase one doses for about 6.5 percent of the province’s population, together with 87070 phase two immunizations.
In the previous week, health authorities said the pleasant weather. They had allowed the province to relax some of the measures they had in place since November last year. However, Dix and Henry said they would continue to stress the need to have the right balance – move at the right place to ensure the virus is not allowed to surge.
They added that this is particularly important for people to remember on the occasion of St. Patrick’s Day when Henry has directed all restaurants, liquor stores, and pubs to refrain from selling alcohol beyond 8pm.
