The B.C. Ministry of Health has reported 619 new cases of novel coronavirus in the province on Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases to 39,337.
In total, 9,982 of the cases are in the Vancouver Coastal Region, 24,942 in Fraser Health, 740 in Vancouver Island Health region, 2,420 in Interior Health, 1,159 in Northern Health region, and 97 people whose residence is outside of Canada.
The number of active cases has increased by 14 to 9,329 in B.C.
There are now a total of 338 people in hospital due to COVID-19, 75 of whom are in critical care — ICU or acute care units.
16 additional COVID-related deaths were reported over the past 24 hours, and the death toll is now at 559.
11,526 people are in isolation, under active public health monitoring, after exposure to COVID-19.
A total of 28,448 people have recovered from novel coronavirus.
Outbreaks
One new health care facility outbreak was reported in the province on Wednesday, while two are now over.
There are a total of 57 long-term care or assisted-living facilities and eight acute-care facilities that have active, ongoing outbreaks.
There remain a number of ongoing COVID-19 exposure sites. B.C. residents are urged to check the BC CDC website for all public alerts about possible exposures to the virus.
Those who may have been exposed are asked to monitor their symptoms, reduce the number of contacts they have, and call 811 to get tested for the virus if they do develop symptoms.
Island Health region
Five new COVID-19 cases were reported in the Island Health region Wednesday.
There have been a total of 740 cases of COVID-19 in the region, seven of whom have died. Eight people in the region are currently in hospital, and four of them are in critical care, after contracting the virus.
Island Health reports that as of Wednesday, December 9, there are 158 active cases in the region.
- South Vancouver Island Active cases: 57 (-12) Total Cases: 244 (+1)
- Central Vancouver Island Active cases: 71 (-35) Total Cases: 330 (+1)
- North Vancouver Island Active cases: 30 (-2) Total Cases: 166 (+3)
The COVID-19 case curve in the Vancouver Island health region as of December 9 is represented below:
To date, there have been a total of 1,241,949 novel coronavirus tests conducted across B.C., 139,455 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 novel coronavirus telephone information line at 1-833-784-4397 for those who have further questions about this virus.
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 pandemic.
As of the time of publication, the total number of COVID-19 patients worldwide has risen to 69,160,428.
Over 1,573,592 people have died from the illness and 47,925,620 have recovered.
