Fewer than 50 cases in Interior

Top doc worried by spread in Vancouver

Forty-seven new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed between Tuesday and Wednesday in Interior Health.

They were among 427 new cases reported across B.C. by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

That brings to 74,710 the number of British Columbians who have been infected since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020.

More than 69,000 people have recovered; there have been 1,317 deaths due to the disease; and there are 4,150 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C., with 232 people being treated in hospital and the rest recovering at home.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has put a strain on all of us, but with kindness, compassion and care for those around us, we will see it through," Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a joint statement.

For several weeks, new case counts each day in the IH region have averaged around the 50 mark, half the number seen on many days in January.

To date, B.C. has administered 176,015 vaccinations.

This week, however, Henry cautioned that virus numbers have begun to rise again in the populous Lower Mainland region.

Further, IH declared over a deadly outbreak in Oliver. Sunnybank longterm care centre had 38 cases — 27 residents and 11 staff with six deaths connected to this outbreak.

There are three ongoing outbreaks in Vernon (Carrington Place, two cases; Creekside Landing, 40 cases, one death; Noric House, 67 cases, 10 deaths).