The B.C. Ministry of Health has reported 21 new test-positive cases of novel coronavirus in the province today, bringing the total number cases in B.C. to 2,467 people.
This is a jump in cases after the province reported just two new patients diagnosed with COVID-19 on Tuesday.
In total, 885 of these cases are in the Vancouver Coastal Region, 1,1214 in Fraser Health, 126 on Vancouver Island, 182 in Interior Health and 60 in Northern Health region.
The number of active cases continue to decline as there are now 317 in B.C.
There are now a total of 43 people who have been hospitalized with COVID-19, 10 of whom are in critical care – ICU or acute care units — showing a continued decrease in hospitalizations and ICU rates.
Sadly, three new deaths were reported today and the death toll is now at 149 in total across the province.
In good news, a total of 2,001 people have now recovered from novel coronavirus in B.C.
Outbreaks
One new outbreak has been reported at an The Cedars assisted-living facility in Mission.
In total, 15 long term care and three acute care facilities now have active ongoing outbreaks.
A community outbreak at the Oppenheimer Group, a fruit and vegetable processing plant in Coquitlam, has three cases.
The coronavirus outbreak at the Mission Institute federal correctional facility continues to have 134 people who have tested positive for COVID-19, including 121 inmates and 13 staff.
The outbreak at a Vancouver chicken processing and packaging plant, United Poultry Company, has 35 employees who tested positive for COVID-19.
Its sister plant, the Superior Poultry processing plant in Coquitlam had 61 test-positive cases of patients who contracted the virus. The order that required this facility to close has been rescinded and the plant has been reopened with additional health and safety measures in place.
There continues to be seven people who tested positive for COVID-19 linked to the Fraser Valley Speciality Poultry outbreak.
A total of 17 people returning to B.C. from the Kearl Lake oil sands project in Alberta have tested positive for the virus, and there are additional family members of those workers who are also at risk of virus transmission.
Island Health region
Specific data for the Vancouver Island Health region shows that there are 126 total cases of COVID-19 in the area.
BCCDC data shows that as of May 19th, 120 people have recovered in the Island Health region and there have now been five virus-related deaths in total.
This means there is still just one active case in the region, and that patient is in hospital.
Thus far, there have been 125,044 novel coronavirus tests conducted across B.C., 18,764 of which were done in the Island Health region.
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 5,069,071.
Over 328,700 people have died from the illness and 2,001,689 have made a full recovery.
