B.C. reports 36 new COVID-19 cases in three days, no new deaths

Health officials on Monday reported 36 new cases of COVID-19 in B.C. over the past three days and no new deaths.

There were 14 positive cases from Friday to Saturday, 16 cases from Saturday to Sunday, and six from Sunday to Monday.

There are 2,745 confirmed cases of the disease in the province. Of those, 2,395 patients have fully recovered, or just over 87 per cent.

1:47 Latest B.C. COVID-19 numbers could bode well for ‘Phase 3’ opening

B.C. now has just 182 active cases, a decrease of five since Friday.

Thirteen COVID-19 patients are in hospital, four of whom are in intensive care.

The province’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 168.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said there are no new outbreaks at long-term care or assisted-living facilities and no new community outbreaks.

Henry said the COVID-19 outbreak at the Kearl Lake oil sands project in Alberta is now over.

There have been no COVID-19 cases linked to schools after they reopened two weeks ago, Henry said.

British Columbians need to remain humble and vigilant, Health Minister Adrian Dix said, noting that U.S. states along the Pacific coast, including Washington, Oregon, California and Alaska, continue to see a number of cases.

“These circumstances are around us. And it’s not because people aren’t striving to do well in those jurisdictions,” Dix said. “COVID is a difficult adversary.”

3:54 B.C. health officials on reports of U.S. tourists crossing into Canada

On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government is looking into reports of U.S. tourists sneaking into Canada by telling border agents they’re on their way to Alaska.

Anyone looking to skirt border rules should “give their head a shake,” Dix said.

“If people are misleading people at the border, there can very likely be consequences to that,” he said.

“It doesn’t make sense. They put at risk, in some respects, their ability to visit our country in the future.”

— With files from Amanda Connolly and Simon Little