VANCOUVER -- British Columbia has recorded more than 1,000 additional cases of COVID-19 over the last 48 hours, health officials announced at a live briefing on the coronavirus pandemic Thursday.
Because the province didn't report new cases on Remembrance Day, Thursday's numbers reflected two separate reporting periods. B.C. recorded 536 additional cases from Tuesday to Wednesday and another 594 cases - a new daily record - from Wednesday to Thursday.
Four more people have died over the last 48 hours, said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.
Since the pandemic began, there have been 20,368 cases of COVID-19 in B.C. and 288 deaths. There are currently 5,793 active cases, the highest active caseload the province has ever seen.
That total includes 155 people who are in hospital, which is also a record, topping the 149 who were hospitalized with COVID-19 on April 2. Forty-four of those currently hospitalized are in intensive care.
The record-breaking update came alongside an update on the province's modelling of the pandemic, during which Henry described the recent, dramatic growth in case numbers as concerning, but not unique.
"We are at a place that is challenging for us and we don't want to be here now, but it is our reality, and it's one that we're dealing with along with everybody else around the globe," she said.
The provincial health officer again urged people to "step back" from their contacts with others and work to reduce the transmission of the coronavirus.
B.C. has seen its daily caseload doubling roughly once every 13 days, in recent weeks, Henry said.
"We need to get our social interactions back to those levels where our public health and contact tracing can control the spread," she said. "That is in our hands to do."
The vast majority of the 1,130 new cases reported Thursday are located in the Lower Mainland, with 808 in the Fraser Health region and 249 in Vancouver Coastal Health.
Elsewhere in B.C., there have been 34 additional cases recorded in Interior Health over the last 24 hours, as well as 23 in Northern Health and 16 in Island Health.
Thursday's update also included six new outbreaks of COVID-19 in B.C. health-care facilities. Three outbreaks have been declared over, leaving the province with 41 active outbreaks of the coronavirus, including 35 in long-term care or assisted-living homes and six in acute-care settings.
The six new outbreaks include three that Fraser Health announced Wednesday, at Chartwell Langley Gardens, Peace Portal Seniors Village and The Harrison at Elim Village.
The other three new outbreaks include two more care homes - Dania Home and Finnish Manor, both in Burnaby - and one acute-care outbreak at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
(Nov. 12, 2020: Province of B.C.)
