B.C. sets new daily COVID-19 case count record for second straight day

For the second day in a row, B.C. reported a record number of single-day COVID-19 cases Wednesday.

According to the BC Centre for Disease Control, Wednesday’s record-high number of new cases is higher than first reported. The dashboard shows 1,528 new infections. This comes after provincial health officials noted this afternoon that the daily total of 1,474 cases was “provisional due to a delayed data refresh.”

Before this week, the highest single-day case count was recorded on April 8 with 1,293 cases. On Tuesday the province beat that record with 1,308 people infections.

Out of the latest cases, nearly half of are within the Vancouver Coastal Health region with 709 infections.

Six people in B.C. have died from the virus in the last day. Three of them were from Fraser Health, two were from Island Health and one was from Northern Health.

There are 187 people in hospital with the virus — including 71 people in critical care.

There is one active outbreak in the Lions Gate Hospital.

This comes just hours before the latest restrictions affecting bars, gyms, restaurants, and indoor events in the province kick in at 11:59 p.m. until at least Jan. 18.

Read More: B.C. adding COVID-19 restrictions as booster rollout, rapid testing accelerates

Bars, nightclubs, gyms, and dance studios have been ordered to close and all seated events will be reduced to 50 per cent capacity until the order is scheduled to lift.

Restaurants, cafes, and other businesses that serve food are allowed to remain open with physical distancing and a maximum of six people per table.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the Omicron variant is rapidly replacing Delta as the dominant variant of COVID-19 in B.C. and it’s spreading to people who have been vaccinated or who have already contracted the virus.