B.C. records 3,795 new COVID-19 cases
Posted December 31, 2021 5:03 pm.
Last Updated December 31, 2021 6:59 pm.
In the last case update of 2021, the province has announced 3,795 more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in B.C.
An update on confirmed Omicron cases was not provided Friday. However, the province earlier announced a number of measures to try to slow down the surge in cases driven by this variant, including restricting visits to long-term care and opening up booster appointments to those 18 and over. Friday also saw an announcement that the British Columbians who have received a full course of a COVID-19 vaccine and have no symptoms or mild symptoms will only need to self-isolate for five days, as opposed to seven.
Again, more than half of the news cases — 1,944 were in the Fraser Health Region. Vancouver Coastal saw 965. There were 434 new cases in Island Health, 320 in Interior Health, and 129 in Northern Health. Three cases have been recorded among people who live outside of Canada.
3795 confirmed new cases
20811 confirmed active (+4000)
3 deaths
Hosp/icu about same
15 Ltc/acute care outbreaks (from 0/1 last week)#bcpoli #covid19 @CityNewsVAN pic.twitter.com/N1fVKSfPjE— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) January 1, 2022
There are 20,811 active cases in the province. The number of positive and active cases reported by provincial health officials was acknowledged earlier this week to be a vast undercount, not reflecting everyone who has the illness.
RELATED: B.C. officials acknowledge record case counts don’t reflect ‘number of people who truly have COVID’
Three more people have passed away in the province in the past 24 hours. Hospitalizations are continuing to creep up. There are 220 people hospitalized due to the virus, up from 211 on Thursday. There are 73 people in the ICU, up from 66.
Two more outbreaks have been declared in health-care facilities, bringing the total number up to 15. The new outbreaks are at Kopernik Lodge in Vancouver Coastal Health and Amica Douglas House in Island Health.
On the vaccination front, 82.9 per cent of those five and older have received two shots, while 88.1 per cent have received one dose. Of those 12 and older who are eligible for a booster, 19.6 per cent have received it.
Between Dec. 23 and 29, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 16 per cent. Between Dec. 16 and 29 they made up 55 per cent of hospitalizations.
