The B.C. Ministry of Health reported 444 new cases of COVID-19 across the province on Tuesday, for a total of 47,510 cases since the pandemic began.
In total, 11,331 of the cases are in the Vancouver Coastal Region, 28,753 in Fraser Health, 838 in Vancouver Island Health region, 3,391in Interior Health, 1,621 in Northern Health region, and 108 people whose residence is outside of Canada.
The number of active cases in B.C. has decreased by 237 to 9,481.
There are now a total of 357 people in hospital due to COVID-19, 84 of whom are in critical care — ICU or acute care units.
12 more people have died from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, bringing the provincial death toll to 777.
A total of 36,094 people have recovered from novel coronavirus.
So far, 4,108 health care workers in the province have received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Vaccine deliveries have now arrived in every health region in BC.
Outbreaks
Two new health-care facility outbreaks have been reported at the rehabilitation unit at Laurel Place and at a further acute-care unit at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
In total, there are 56 long term care and assisted living facilities, and seven acute care facilities with ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks.
There has also been a new community outbreak at Highline Farms in the Fraser Health region.
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
Nine new COVID-19 cases were reported in the Island Health region over the past 24 hours.
In total, there have been 838 cases of COVID-19 in the region, 11 of whom have died. Five people in the region are currently in hospital, and one of them is in critical care after contracting the virus.
Island Health reports that as of Tuesday, December 22, there are 65 active cases in the region.
- South Vancouver Island Active cases: 31 (+1); Total Cases: 279 (+3)
- Central Vancouver Island Active cases: 24 (+2); Total Cases: 377 (+15)
- North Vancouver Island Active cases: 10 ; Total Cases: 182 (+1)
The COVID-19 case curve in the Vancouver Island health region as of December 22 is represented below:
To date, there have been a total of 1,393,231 novel coronavirus tests conducted across B.C., 152,374 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 78,288,488.
Over 1,721,907 people have died from the illness and 55,052,907 have recovered.
