VICTORIA -- Two more people have died from the novel coronavirus in British Columbia and 34 more people have been infected, bringing the total number of deaths from COVID-19 in the province to 50.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix announced the development at their daily briefing on the virus Thursday.
The new deaths occurred in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and the Fraser Health region.
There are now 1,370 confirmed cases of the virus in the province, including one more on Vancouver Island.
The majority of cases are still in B.C.'s Lower Mainland, with 626 in the Vancouver Coastal health region and 508 in the Fraser Health region.
There are now 82 cases of COVID-19 in the Island Health region, 130 cases in the Interior and 24 cases in the province's northern health region.
Henry said 132 people remain in hospital with COVID-19 in B.C., 68 of them in critical care. A dozen of those who remain in hospital are in the Island Health region, Dix said.
There remain 235 active cases associated with 20 long-term care homes, including 143 residents and 92 staff.
"The vast majority of the people who have died are seniors and residents of long-term care," Henry said Thursday.
A total of 858 people in B.C. have now recovered from the virus, an addition of 20 recoveries since Wednesday.
Henry and Dix credited the physical distancing efforts of British Columbians with keeping the rate of new infections trending downward. They reminded the public to continue maintaining distance from one another to prevent the further spread of the virus, especially over the Easter long weekend.
"Now is not the time for travel unless it's absolutely necessary and you need to take care of your family," Henry said.
