Coronavirus: British Columbia reports 519 new COVID-19 cases, 12 deaths

British Columbia reported 519 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, along with 12 new deaths.

In a written statement, the health officials said the province’s coronavirus death toll had reached 1,031.

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There were 4,810 active cases in B.C., the first time the province has seen fewer than 5,000 since Nov. 9.

Fraser Health again reported the most new cases, 235, though the figure was far lower than in recent weeks. Active cases in the Fraser region also fell to 2,308, less than a third of where they stood at their peak in December.

There were 117 cases in Vancouver Coastal Health, 84 in the Interior Health region, 45 in the Northern Health region and 34 on Vancouver Island.

The province conducted 9,050 tests in the last 24 hours, for a province-wide positivity rate of 5.7 per cent.

The seven-day moving average for test positivity for B.C. remained at 6.6 per cent, as of Tuesday, though in the Norther Health region it was as high as 16.6 per cent.

A total of 63,430 people have now had at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

There were six fewer people in hospital, for a total of 360, 76 of whom were in critical or intensive care.

Interior Health also declared a new outbreak at the Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake.

Nearly 88 per cent of B.C.’s 59,072 total cases have recovered.

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