B.C. reports 619 new cases of COVID-19, another 16 deaths

British Columbia announced another 619 cases of COVID-19 and 16 new deaths on Wednesday.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry reported the numbers at a live briefing, in which the province unveiled its plans to roll out a vaccine for the coronavirus.

The majority of the cases were in the Fraser Health region (384) and Vancouver Coastal Health region (121).

Eighty-one were in the Interior Health region, 27 in the Northern Health region and five on Vancouver Island.

Twelve of the fatalities were in the Fraser Health region and four in the Vancouver Coastal Health region. Most were in long-term care.

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British Columbia has now recorded 559 COVID-19 deaths, 118 of them — 21 per cent — in December alone.

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There were 338 people in hospital, an overnight drop of 14, and 75 people in critical or intensive care.

There were 9,329 active cases, up slightly from Tuesday, but down from the 9,380 reported Monday.

An additional 11,526 people were isolating due to possible exposure.

About 72 per cent of B.C.’s 39,337 total cases have recovered.