GRIM COVID RECORD

28 deaths over 24 hours

COVID-19 infections in British Columbia topped 40,000 on Thursday as provincial health officials confirmed 723 new cases.

The updated numbers provided by Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer, and Health Minister Adrian Dix brought total cases to 40,060. Fatalities rose to 587 following a staggering 28 new deaths in the last day, a grim daily record.

Fifteen of those deaths were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and another 12 were in the Fraser Health region. All but two were in long-term care homes, according to the health minister.

The provincial government continues to hire contact tracers to deal with the spread of the virus throughout B.C. communities.

There are 9,524 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. Most of the sick are self-isolating at home, but 346 residents are being treated in hospital, including 83 in intensive care. Another 11,947 people are currently under public health monitoring due to close contact with a known COVID-19 case.

“We are not yet through this storm,” Henry said. “We continue to have many new cases, and even in the last 24 hours, people have lost parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends.”

Residents of long-term care facilities account for more than 1,000 active COVID-19 cases in B.C., Henry said, but in what the provincial health official called “heartening news,” outbreaks in the provincial health care system appear to be slowing, with just one new outbreak declared in the last 48 hours and many others close to being declared over.

The outbreak at Burnaby Hospital is finished, Henry announced, reducing the number of health care facilities contending with outbreaks to 64.

Henry noted that there are more than 600 long-term care facilities in the province that don't have outbreaks.

She urged British Columbians to continue their vigilance.

“There will be a time when we can take our masks off, when we can hug our loved ones, when we can travel to see friends and family,” she said.

“We will get there. But we are not through this storm yet.”