Vancouver Island reports 79 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death

B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is seen before a COVID-19 briefing on Nov. 23, 2020. (Province of BC/Flickr)

Victoria -

Health officials in British Columbia say 79 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in the Vancouver Island region Thursday.

The new cases were among 624 cases reported across the province over the past 24 hours.

There are now 5,929 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C., according to the health ministry, including 770 active cases in the Island Health region.

Island Health data identified the locations of 616 active cases Thursday, including 310 in the South Island, 248 in the Central Island and 58 in the North Island.

Forty-three people are in hospital for treatment COVID-19 in the island region, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control, including 22 people who require critical care.

Health officials say four more people have died of COVID-19 in B.C., including one death reported in the Island Health region.

Two other deaths were recorded in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, and one death was reported in the Fraser Health region.

Since the pandemic began, 1,996 people have died of COVID-19 in B.C., including 72 deaths recorded in the island region.

OUTBREAK OVER AT VICTORIA CARE HOME

No new outbreaks of COVID-19 have been reported in health-care facilities across the province. Meanwhile, two health-care outbreaks have been declared over, including an outbreak at the Victoria Chinatown Care Centre, according to the health ministry.

The outbreak at the Chinatown Care Centre was declared on Sept. 19. Over the course of the outbreak, two residents tested positive for COVID-19. No deaths occurred, according to Island Health.

There are now 16 active outbreaks at health-care facilities across the province, none of which are located in the Island Health region.

As of Thursday 88.5 per cent of eligible British Columbians have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 82.1 per cent have received two doses.

According to B.C.'s health ministry, the majority of recent COVID-19 cases have been confirmed among people who are not vaccinated.

Between Sept. 29 and Oct. 5, 64.4 per cent of confirmed cases were found among people who are not vaccinated, 6.4 per cent were identified in people who are partially vaccinated and 29.2 per cent of cases were reported among people who are fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, between Sept. 22 and Oct. 5, 70.4 per cent of people who required hospitalization for treatment of COVID-19 were unvaccinated, while 7.9 per cent were partially vaccinated. The remaining 21.7 per cent of patients were fully vaccinated, according to the ministry of health.

In total, the province has administered 7,921,070 doses of COVID-19 vaccine since it began its immunization campaign in December 2020.