The latest B.C. government data on the COVID-19 pandemic has good news and bad news.
While the province vaccinated a record 25,126 doses to a record 25,114 people (with 12 people getting needed second doses), the number of people actively battling COVID-19 infections has risen to 5,573 – the highest tally since January 8.
The total number of vaccinated British Columbians has grown to 495,454, and will almost certainly pass the half-million threshold tomorrow. Health officials have administered 582,634 doses of vaccine, including second doses to an additional 87,180 people.
The vaccination effort will be helped by 1,400 laid-off tourism and hospitality workers who would be doing non-clinical work, Premier John Horgan told media March 24.
The recent climb in the number of new COVID-19 infections has underscored the importance of B.C.'s vaccination effort.
Health officials detected 716 new infections in the past 24 hours. This is only the fourth time this year that the province's daily tally of new cases has exceeded 700.
The number of those hospitalized dropped by 11 overnight, to 303, while 85 people are now sick enough to be in intensive care units (ICUs). There have not been more people fighting COVID-19 in B.C. hospital ICUs since December 18.
With three more British Columbians dying while carrying the virus in the past day, B.C.'s death toll from COVID-19 has risen to 1,441.
More than 92.4%, or 86,857 people, out of the 93,969 people in B.C. who have been infected by the virus, are deemed by the province to have recovered.
Another 9,696 people are being closely watched for symptoms because they have had known exposure to individuals identified as having carried the virus.
So-called "variants of concern," or mutant strains of COVID-19 that scientists believe transmit more readily than does the main COVID-19 virus are continuing to rise, though not as rapidly as feared. There were only 71 new cases of variant viruses detected by health officials in the past day. That is less than half of the 144 cases detected yesterday, and the 166 cases detected the previous day.
Variant infections are discovered when health officials retest genetic material previously known to have been positive for the main COVID-19 virus, and specifically look for variant signs in the viral code.
More than 88.3% of the known cases of variant-viral infection, or 1,397 incidences, are of the B.1.1.7 strain first discovered in the U.K.
The potentially most concerning strain is the P.1 variant, first discovered in Brazil, because there is some doubt about how effective vaccines are against this variant. Brazil's COVID-19 crisis is out of control, with hospitals at capacity and oxygen supplies running out. The country recorded more than 3,000 deaths for the first time yesterday.
B.C. has 140 cases of the P.1 variant, which while low in comparison to B.1.1.7, is growing much faster. P.1 cases in B.C. have risen by ten times in the past two weeks.
The third variant strain in B.C. is B.1.351, which was first discovered in South Africa. The province has 44 cases of this strain, and the variant has been growing at a crawl, with only three new cases since March 15.
Here is the breakdown of where the 716 newly infected people reside, by health region:
• 230 in Vancouver Coastal Health (32.1%);
• 383 in Fraser Health (53.4%);
• 21 in Island Health (2.9%);
• 38 in Interior Health (5.3%);
• 42 in Northern Health (5.9%); and
• two people who reside outside Canada.
There are three outbreaks still active at B.C. seniors' homes. They are:
• Fleetwood Place in Surrey;
• Oceana PARC in White Rock; and
• Cottonwoods Care Centre in Kelowna.
The seven hospitals in B.C. that have outbreaks are:
• Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody;
• Kelowna General Hospital in Kelowna;
• Mission Memorial Hospital in Mission;
• Ridge Meadows Hospital in Maple Ridge;
• Surrey Memorial Hospital in Surrey;
• UBC Hospital, and
• Vancouver General Hospital in Vancouver.
