VICTORIA -- British Columbia has now seen more than 11,000 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced Thursday.

A total of 142 new cases of COVID-19 have been discovered over the past 24 hours, bringing the province’s total to 11,034.

No new deaths related to the virus were recorded Thursday, leaving the province’s death toll at 250.

There are now 1,494 active cases of COVID-19 across B.C., including 74 people who are in hospital, 24 of whom are in intensive care.

Overall, 3,683 people are under active public health monitoring due to exposure to known COVID-19 cases.

First case of MIS-C found in B.C. child

Henry said Thursday that one child in B.C. has been diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) and COVID-19, marking the first MIS-C case recorded in B.C.

Health officials across the world are unsure if there is a link between MIS-C and COVID-19, though many have been monitoring for the syndrome in children because it may be caused by COVID-19.

Henry says this child, who is under the age of five, has since recovered from both illnesses

“The child has fully recovered and is now at home,” said Henry.

B.C.’s top doctor says 16 other children have been assessed for MIS-C and COVID-19. The other 16 had tested negative for both illnesses, said Henry.

Flu vaccinations being prepared

Health officials are encouraging British Columbians to get a flu vaccine this year, as the annual flu season approaches.

Henry says that current influenza rates are low and that keeping flu circulation low will be valuable as the province contends with COVID-19 and other illnesses.

B.C.’s top doctor says getting a flu shot within the next several weeks would be particularly helpful and could stop the flu season from worsening early on.

Henry also provided guidance on Halloween this year. She recommended that children stay close to their community when trick or treating and that families leave bowls of candy outside of their home.

She noted that she had seen some novel approaches to handing out candy this year, like attaching buckets to hockey sticks “which is of course very Canadian,” or installing a slide tube to drop candy into children’s buckets from a distance.

Henry adds that children should not dig around in a candy bowl to grab their favourite snack.

Two of Thursday’s newly discovered COVID-19 cases were found in the Island Health region. There have now been 239 cases discovered on Vancouver Island since the pandemic began.

Most COVID-19 cases have been found in the province’s Lower Mainland, with 3,974 confirmed in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and 5,800 discovered in the Fraser Health region.

Elsewhere in the province, 587 cases have been found in the Interior Health region and 345 discovered in the Northern Health region. A total of 89 people who live outside of Canada have tested positive for the virus in B.C.

An additional 145 people who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 have now recovered Thursday, bringing B.C.’s total number of recoveries to 9,257.

According to Henry, 1.5 per cent of all COVID-19 tests that were conducted over the past 24 hours in B.C. came back with positive results.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.