Province reports 2,211 new COVID-19 cases over past four days

B.C. is reporting 2,221 new cases of COVID-19, identified over a four-day period beginning on the last day of 2020.

The update also brought news of 45 additional deaths, pushing the province's COVID-19 death toll to 946.

Of the new cases, 288 were in the Interior Health region — an average of 72 per day.

Elsewhere in the province there were 1,301 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 389 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 169 in Northern Health and 64 in Vancouver Island Health.

The province now has 6,823 active cases — a number that has lowered significantly in recent weeks since the province peaked above 10,000 active cases on Dec. 14, 2020.

In hospital, there are now 351 patients in B.C. hospitals, including 76 in critical care.

Another 8,785 people are under active public health monitoring due to exposure to confirmed cases.

Six new health-care facility outbreaks were declared on Monday, but eight others were declared over. There are now 60 active health-care outbreaks in the province, including 52 in assisted living/long-term care facilities and eight in acute care centres.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry also provided an update on B.C.'s vaccination efforts.

As of Monday, the province has administered 24,139 doses of vaccine, including 22,960 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 1,449 of the Moderna vaccine.

To date, 20 per cent of those vaccines have gone to long-term care residents, 48 per cent to long-term care staff and 27 per cent to health care workers.

Henry also outlined the province's plan for the coming months, with hopes to vaccinate 150,000 people, including residents and staff in long-term care homes and assisted living facilities and essential visitors to those locations, hospital workers, paramedics, public health workers and those in remote/isolated First Nation communities.

From February to March, the province is planning to vaccinate another 400,000 people, including community-based senior over the age of 80 (65 or older for Indigenous populations), homeless using shelters, adult group home residents, correctional facility inmates, long-term home support recipients and staff, hospital staff, community doctors and specialists and those in First Nation communities.

Update from Interior Health

Interior Health says four of the deaths reported on Monday occurred in the Interior Health region. Two of the deaths were at long-term care homes, McKinney Place in Oliver and Heritage Square in Vernon, while two were in hospitals or in the community at locations not reported by the health authority.

The region now has 767 active cases. There are 39 people in hospital, including six in critical care.