B.C. reports 1,052 new COVID-19 cases over three days as death toll tops 2,300

Health officials reported 1,052 new cases of COVID-19 in British Columbia over the past three days, along with 10 deaths.

There were 390 cases from Friday to Saturday, while 332 cases were reported from Saturday to Sunday, and 330 from Sunday to Monday.

Of the new cases, 345 were in the Fraser Health region, 125 cases were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 227 were in the Interior Health region, 159 were in Island Health, and 196 were in Northern Health.

2:08 B.C. government preparing to roll out Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5-11

The new case counts bring the province’s seven-day average for daily cases down to 383, the lowest since Aug. 10.

The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 declined to 337. Of those, 115 patients are in intensive care, an increase of six from Friday.

The 10 deaths bring the province’s COVID-19 death toll to 2,303.

There have been 215,688 cases of COVID-19 in B.C. since the start of the pandemic, of which 3,132 remain active.

On Friday, Health Canada approved the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children five to 11 years old.

Following the announcement, officials in B.C. said vaccinations for children in that age group will start the week of Nov. 29.

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said the province will have enough vaccine for every child aged five to 11, and urged families to register their children for a vaccination appointment.

The province will be using community clinics as primary locations for immunizations. Schools and family doctors’ offices are not included at this point.

Dix said he is confident the vaccine will be distributed efficiently across the province, even with supply chains affected by the recent flooding.

—With files from Richard Zussman