Vancouver Island adds 68 new COVID-19 cases; 'no evidence' of Omicron variant in B.C.
Health officials in British Columbia identified 68 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Island region Friday.
The new cases were among 341 cases identified across the province over the past 24 hours.
There are currently 3,035 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C., including 448 active cases in the Island Health region, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control.
Island Health data identified the locations of 401 active cases Friday, including 92 in the South Island, 202 in the Central Island and 107 in the North Island.
Six COVID-19-related deaths were reported in B.C. on Friday. None of the deaths were in the Vancouver Island region. Three deaths were in the Fraser Health region, two were in Vancouver Coastal Health and one was in Northern Health.
Since the pandemic began, 2,322 people have died of COVID-19 in B.C. including, 119 deaths in the island region.
There are currently 51 people in hospital for treatment of COVID-19 on Vancouver Island, including 15 patients who require critical care.
NO EVIDENCE OF NEW VARIANT IN B.C.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said there was no indication Friday that a new coronavirus variant of concern (VOC), known as Omicron, had made its way to the province.
"At this time, there is no evidence that this variant has been introduced into British Columbia," Dix and Henry said in a statement.
"The BC Centre for Disease Control’s public health lab has sequenced over 90,000 virus isolates in B.C. and will continue to use whole genome sequencing to monitor for all variants circulating in B.C., including this new VOC Omicron," they added.
The health officials said they support the federal government's decision Friday to temporarily block travellers from entering Canada from southern Africa, where the new variant was first reported.
"We support the measures taken today by the federal government in response to the newly identified variant of concern, Omicron," Dix and Henry said. "We do not yet know the impact this new VOC will have on transmission or of severity of illness, but taking this immediate precautionary action is prudent. We will continue to closely monitor developments around the world."
Approximately 91 per cent of eligible British Columbians have now received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 87.6 per cent have received two doses.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.