B.C.’s COVID-19 death toll tops 2,000 as province reports 743 new cases

British Columbia’s COVID-19-related death toll climbed over 2,000 on Friday, as the province reported 743 new cases and five additional fatalities.

The update brought B.C.’s seven-day average for new cases to 671 and left the province with 5,969 active cases.

Of the new cases, 265 were in the Fraser Health region, 143 were in the Interior Health region, 186 were in the Northern Health region and 70 were in the Island Health region.

For the second day in a row, the Vancouver Coastal Health region, the province’s second most populous health authority, had the lowest new case count, reporting just 69 new infections.

The number of patients in hospital dipped by 13 to 360, while the number of people in critical or intensive care climbed by five to 137.

The hospitalization numbers do not include patients who were no longer infectious but remained in hospital for other treatment — a figure officials have not provided since Sept. 21.

More than 4.1 million British Columbians, representing 88.6 per cent of those eligible and 79.7 per cent of B.C.’s whole population, has had at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

3:56 Latest COVID-19 modelling data shows children most at risk

Of them, more than 3.81 million people, 82.2 per cent of those eligible and 74 per cent of B.C.’s population, has had two doses.

Over the past week, people who were not fully vaccinated accounted for 69.4 per cent of cases, while over the past two weeks they accounted for 76.7 per cent of hospitalizations.

Nine out of 10 COVID-19 patients in hospital Friday were not fully vaccinated.

Earlier Friday, health officials confirmed B.C. would extend its mask mandate for indoor public places to children aged five and up.

Since the start of the pandemic, B.C. has reported 192,491 cases while 2,001 people have died.

2:48 B.C. MLA says proximity to Alberta a factor in low COVID-19 vaccination rates