Thursday, March 28, 2024

B.C. reports 50 new COVID-19 cases since Saturday, three additional deaths (UPDATED)

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The B.C. Ministry of Health has reported 50 new test-positive cases of novel coronavirus in the province since Saturday, bringing the total number cases in B.C. to 1,998 people.

39 people tested positive for the virus in the period between Saturday and Sunday, and 11 people tested positive between Sunday and Monday morning.

In total, 795 of these cases are in the Vancouver Coastal Region, 879 in Fraser Health, 117 on Vancouver Island, 164 in Interior Health and 43 in Northern Health region.

Dr. Henry says the majority of active cases now are linked to the known cluster outbreaks described below.

There are now a total of 97 people who have been hospitalized with COVID-19, 36 of whom are in critical care – ICU or acute care units — showing a continued decline in hospitalizations.

Sadly, three new deaths were reported today and the death toll is now at 103 in total across the province.

In good news, a total of 1,190 people have now recovered from novel coronavirus in B.C.

Outbreaks

There are two new outbreaks at a long term care facilities across B.C. while one long term care facility outbreak has been declared over.

In total, 21 facilities and three acute-care units have active outbreaks, with outbreaks declared over at 12 care facilities. 389 people at those facilities have tested positive for the virus.

The coronavirus outbreak at the Mission Institute federal correctional facility now has 118 people who have tested positive for COVID-19, 106 of whom are inmates while the rest are staff.

The outbreak at a Vancouver chicken processing and packaging plant, United Poultry Company, continues to have 35 employees who tested positive for COVID-19.

Its sister plant, the Superior Poultry processing plant in Coquitlam now has 25 test-positive cases of patients who have contracted the virus — an increase of nine cases since the last report.

In addition, there continue to be 11 COVID-19 cases connected to workers returning from the Kearl Lake oil sands project in Alberta.

According to Dr. Henry, many B.C. residents continue to travel to Alberta and back in order to work, and while there remain 11 cases linked to that outbreak, there are several hundred people associated with the Kearl Lake workplace.

Health authorities are testing contacts and family members of those affected, and attempting to contact individuals associated with the project to inform them of the outbreak as workers have varying degrees of information about the outbreak from their employer, according to Dr. Henry.

Island Health region

Specific data for the Vancouver Island Health region shows that there are 117 total cases of COVID-19 in the area.

BCCDC data shows that as of April 27th, 81 people have recovered in the Island Health region and there have now been four virus-related deaths in total.

This means there are now 32 active cases in the region.

Six people with COVID-19 are currently hospitalized and one person is admitted in ICU.

The Ministry of Health is developing a plan to reopen businesses and schools to a modified version of in-person classes, and Dr. Henry urges people to be patient and wait a few more days as they release information in a phased way.

“We’re taking the time to do them right and to meet the conditions that we have and are experiencing here in B.C.,” said Dr. Henry.

“Our focus is to provide a consistent framework so that different sectors know where they need to operate within.”


See all the latest updates about the global COVID-19 pandemic on Vancouver Island


The BCCDC has set up a 2019 novel coronavirus telephone information line at 1-833-784-4397 for those who have further questions about this disease.

Anyone concerned that they may have been exposed to, or are experiencing symptoms of the novel coronavirus, should contact their primary care provider, local public health office, or call 8-1-1.

The Province has also created the 1-888-COVID-19  line to connect British Columbians needing non-medical information about the coronavirus pandemic.

As of the time of publication, the total number of COVID-19 patients worldwide has risen to 3,058,186.

Over 211,100 people have died from the illness and 919,727 have made a full recovery.

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Brishti Basu
Former Senior Staff Writer and Content Manager at Victoria Buzz.

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