B.C. has recorded only four new cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours.
Those new cases are outbreaks at two Lower Mainland companies: Maersk Distribution in Delta and New World Technologies in Abbotsford.
There have been no new deaths from COVID-19.
This brings total of cases in the province to 2,601 with the deaths remaining at 165.
Thirty-one people remain in hospital, which is down one from Monday, but eight people are in ICU, up three from the same day.
A total of 2,229 people around B.C. have now recovered from the virus.
There remain 207 active cases.
There are no new community outbreaks at long-term care homes or assisted living facilities and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said she was very pleased to announce the outbreak at Abbotsford Regional Hospital has been declared over.
Ten health-care workers were infected at the hospital with two ending up in the ICU.
“I am extremely pleased to be able to say that both of them were discharged home and grateful for the care that they received,” Henry said.
The outbreaks at Amica Edgemont, Royal Arch Masonic, Chartwell Willow and Eden Care Centre have all been declared over.
There are eight active outbreaks across B.C., all at long-term care homes.
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Henry said it is good to see B.C. making progress and slowly reopening businesses and services.
“It is OK to move slowly and at a pace that works for you, given your situation” she said. “Understandably, it makes some people a little bit anxious and a little bit nervous and for others, we’re just not moving fast enough.”
She said some businesses are looking at increasing testing in order to keep people safe.
But Henry cautioned that testing does not replace the many steps everyone should be taking – such as physical distancing and increased hand washing – to help stop the spread of the virus.
“Relying on one layer, like testing, is not enough and will not keep people safe on its own. Testing can help identify those who have COVID-19 so that people can rapidly isolate and so that public health teams can start with our contact tracing and making sure that we’re stopping those transmission chains.”
“It is very important to understand, however, that testing right now can be unreliable,” Henry added. “Particularly for people who don’t have symptoms or who have mild symptoms that they may not even recognize.”
“Someone who is negative one day, who has an exposure, may actually be positive the next. The tests are not that great at picking this up early on.”
B.C. health officials are also warning anyone who attended Sunday’s protest in Vancouver in the wake of George Floyd’s death in the U.S. to monitor their health.
An estimated 5,000 people gathered outside the Vancouver Art Gallery in solidarity with protests in the United States after a white police officer in Minneapolis held his knee on Floyd’s neck while the Black man was in handcuffs and crying out that he couldn’t breathe.
Many of the attendees were wearing masks, but health officials said Monday people should keep an eye out for possible COVID-19 symptoms for the next two weeks.
“You may have put yourself at risk and you may bring that back to your home,” Henry said Monday.
“If you have any symptoms at all, you need to self-isolate. You need to get tested. You need to be sure you’re not contributing to further transmission of this virus.”
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