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B.C.’s rising COVID-19 infection rate hits 800 for Thursday

191 more positive tests for coronavirus variants of concern
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People wait in line at a COVID-19 testing facility in Burnaby, B.C., on Thursday, August 13, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

B.C. public health officials reported 800 additional COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours up to March 25, with five more deaths and 306 people in hospital.

The number of people in hospital has crept up over 300 in recent days as new infections have risen, with 556 cases Saturday, 598 to Sunday, 631 to Monday, 682 Tuesday, 716 Wednesday and now 800 in the 24 hours up to Thursday.

There has been one new infection outbreak declared in the health care system, at Chilliwack General Hospital. With widespread vaccination of care home residents and staff, the number of active outbreaks in long-term care and assisted living is down to three, Health Minister Adrian Dix said Thursday.

“Since we last reported, we have had 264 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 381 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 45 in the Island Health region, 50 in the Interior Health region, 58 in the Northern Health region and two new cases of people who reside outside of Canada,” provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Dix said in a statement.

“There have been 191 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern in our province, for a total of 1,772 cases. Of the total cases, 215 are active and the remaining people have recovered. This includes 1,549 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 47 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant and 176 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant.”

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@tomfletcherbc
tfletcher@blackpress.ca

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