B.C. health officials report 840 new COVID-19 cases, no new deaths

B.C. health officials recorded 840 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday and no new deaths.

Of the new cases, 265 were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 421 were in the Fraser Health region, 39 were in Island Health, 67 were in Interior Health, and 46 were in Northern Health. Eighteen of the cases were epi-linked.

The province also reported 320 new cases involving COVID-19 variants of concern for a total of 2,553. Of the total cases, 313 are active.

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The seven-day average for new COVID-19 cases in B.C. is now 826. Just over a week ago, it stood at 600.

The number of people in hospital with the disease rose by 13 to 312. Of those, 78 people are in ICU, a decrease of one from Monday.

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The province’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 1,455.

There have now been just over 99,000 cases of COVID-19 in B.C. since the start of the pandemic, of which 7,062 are active.

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At this time last week, there were just over 5,400 active cases in the province.

More than 724,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,000 of which were second doses.

Tuesday marks the first day new rules aimed to stem the spread of COVID-19 go into effect.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry revoked indoor dining, group fitness classes, and limited worship services, which had been granted just last week, until April 19.

The province also shuttered the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort.

On Tuesday, Vancouver Coastal Health released data surrounding a surge of COVID-19 cases in Whistler.

The health authority said it identified 218 new cases in Whistler from March 22 to 28. There have been 1,120 cases recorded in the community since Jan. 1.

Henry said Monday that attempts to reduce COVID-19 transmission in the ski community aren’t working and Whistler Blackcomb will be shut down until April 19.

“We’re starting to see cases increase again in that community and particularly in the past week with the more worrisome cluster of the P1 Brazil variant of concern,” Henry said.

“We’ve also seen transmission from travel to and from other communities across B.C. from the Whistler area.”

Henry on Monday also reported six deaths and 2,518 new cases of COVID-19 over a 72-hour period. That three-day total included 936 cases reported from Friday to Saturday, the highest single-day figure recorded in the province.

— With files from The Canadian Press