509 new virus cases push the provincial total over 60,000, officials say

B.C. health officials reported another 509 COVID19 infections on Friday, as total B.C. cases exceeded 60,000.

The update from Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, and Health Minister Adrian Dix means total cases climbed to 60,117 and total deaths increased to 1,047, with nine additional deaths reported for the Thursday reporting period.

There are 4,604 active cases of COVID-19 in British Columbia — a number that includes 349 individuals in hospital, of whom 68 are in acute care beds.

Another 7,132 people are under public health monitoring because of close contact with a known COVID-19 case.

So far, 53,115 people who tested positive have recovered.

Immunizations rose Friday to 75,914. Most of those vaccinated are residents or workers in long-term care homes, where COVID-19 has proved most deadly. Public health teams are scrambling to get shots into every arm in these facilities, in the hopes of preventing further outbreaks and fatalities.

Henry and Dix confirmed a new outbreak at Hilltop House, a residential care facility in Squamish.

The outbreak at Villa Cathay, a downtown Vancouver nursing home, has been declared over.

The outbreak at Wingtat Game Bird Packers, a Surrey poultry plant where at least 30 workers tested positive for the coronavirus in December, has been declared over as well.

“People throughout British Columbia are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel,” Henry and Dix said. “As of today, thousands of people working and living in longterm care homes, health-care workers and those in remote or at-risk Indigenous communities have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.