B.C. set records earlier this month for the most new COVID-19 infections in one day, and most COVID-19 patients in hospital intensive care units, and in hospitals as a whole.
Numbers released April 23, however, showed good news on all of those fronts, as all three metrics were on the decline.
B.C. officials detected 1,001 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, which is higher than they want, but is down from the 1,006 new cases discovered yesterday, and from the record 1,293 infections reported on April 8.
Hospitalizations had risen to record highs in seven consecutive data updates until yesterday's 502 count, and in every update since April 9, so it is good news to see hospitalizations fall by 16, to 486. Of those, 160 people are now in intensive care units – one fewer than yesterday.
Four people died overnight from the disease, raising the province's death toll from COVID-19 to 1,554.
Of the 123,758 people known to have contracted COVID-19 in B.C. since the first case was discovered in January, 2020, more than 91.4%, or 113,139 people, are deemed by the province to have recovered.
The number of those actively battling infections, at 8,842, has declined over the past week, but is 109 more than it was yesterday.
Officials are monitoring 12,608 people for symptoms because they have had known contact with individuals identified as being infected. That number has fallen in every data update since April 14.
Health officials have gone a week without setting a record for the number of new vaccinations in a day. They provided 41,636 doses of vaccine to 41,448 new people, and to 188 people as needed second doses in the past day. The record remains the 46,227 doses provided to 46,157 new people, and 70 second doses given on April 16.
In total, B.C. officials have administered 1,642,066 doses of vaccine to 1,453,403 people, as well as 88,663 second doses.
Here is the breakdown of where the 1,001 people with infections detected in the past day reside, by health region:
• 215 in Vancouver Coastal Health (21.5%);
• 626 in Fraser Health (62.6%);
• 26 in Island Health (2.6%);
• 93 in Interior Health (9.3%);
• 39 in Northern Health (3.9%); and
• two people who usually reside outside Canada.
B.C. has long conducted fewer COVID-19 tests per capita than the Canadian average.
There were 10,753 tests conducted in the past day, which is 1,376 more tests than were done the day before. Those tests resulted in five fewer positive cases, so the positive-rate fell to 9.3% from 10.7%.
With two new COVID-19 outbreaks declared in B.C., at the Craigdarroch Care Home, in Victoria., and at the Sandalwood Retirement Resort in Kelowna, there are now seven active outbreaks at long-term living, or seniors' homes in B.C. They are:
• Acropolis Manor in Prince Rupert;
• Cottonwoods Care Centre in Kelowna.
• Craigdarroch Care Home in Victoria.
• Dufferin Care Centre in Coquitlam;
• Mount St. Mary in Victoria;
• Sandalwood Retirement Resort in Kelowna; and
• Sunset Manor in Chilliwack.
Seven hospitals in B.C. now have active COVID-19 outbreaks. They are:
• Abbotsford Regional Hospital in Abbotsford;
• Dawson Creek and District Hospital in Dawson Creek;
• Nanaimo Regional General Hospital in Nanaimo;
• Prince Rupert Regional Hospital in Prince Rupert;
• Surrey Memorial Hospital in Surrey;
• UBC Hospital in Vancouver; and
• Vancouver General Hospital in Vancouver.
