B.C. reports 2,020 new COVID-19 cases over three days as death toll surpasses 500

B.C. recorded 2,020 new cases of COVID-19 in the province over a span of three days along with 35 deaths.

There were 647 COVID-19 cases and 17 deaths from Friday to Saturday while 726 cases and 10 deaths were reported from Saturday to Sunday. The province reported 647 cases from Sunday to Monday along with seven deaths, marking the first time in two weeks that B.C. didn’t record a daily death toll in double digits.

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Of the new cases, 1,362 were in the Fraser Health region, 304 were in Vancouver Coastal Health, 203 were in Interior Health, 45 in Island Health and 106 in Northern Health. Ten of the reported cases were epi-linked.

The 35 fatalities bring the province’s COVID-19 death toll to 527.

There are 349 people in hospital with the disease, an increase of nine from Friday. Seventy-seven people are in intensive care.

Officials reported 9,380 active cases in the province, an increase of 330 from Friday. An additional 10,957 people were isolating due to possible exposure.

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There has been a total of 38,152 cases in the province, 27,287 of which have recovered.

During its last update on Friday, the province reported 711 cases of COVID-19 and 11 deaths, marking the 11th consecutive day B.C. recorded double-digit fatalities linked to the disease.

Over the weekend, health officials declared a COVID-19 outbreak at a mink farm in the Fraser Valley.

Vancouver Coastal Health said Monday that a COVID-19 outbreak at Richmond Hospital has expanded to two more units.

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Outbreaks have been declared at the hospital’s 6 North and 3 South medical units. An outbreak was declared earlier this month on the 4 North acute care unit for the elderly.

All three units are closed to new admissions and transfers and only compassionate end-of-life visits are allowed.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that Canada will get up to 249,000 doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech before the end of December.

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The vaccine is expected to be approved by Health Canada this week.

Henry said people can celebrate the encouraging news that B.C. is set to receive its first vaccine as early as next week — but high rates of transmission across the province cannot be ignored.

— With files from Simon Little, Amy Judd and the Canadian Press