Sophie Gray
Local Journalism Initiative
Health authorities reported nine new cases of COVID-19 in B.C. as of Thursday afternoon.
The increase brings the total number of test positive cases in the province to 2,559. There are 241 active COVID-19 cases in the province, with 33 people in hospital and six people in critical care of intensive care units.
Vancouver Coastal Health and the Fraser Health region continue to show the highest numbers of cases, while the Interior Health region saw one additional case Thursday to bring the total number in the region to 195.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry also announced two additional deaths and another outbreak in a long-term care facility in the Fraser Health region.
She also announced the official end of the Mission Institute outbreak. The outbreak at the federal correctional centre was considered one of the worst in the province, contributing over 100 cases to the total in B.C.
Dr. Henry said this is a testament to a job well done by health officials dealing directly with the outbreak.
“I really want to commend the teams from Fraser Health in particular, from BCCDC (BC Centre for Disease Control) who supported them, (and) from the mobile medical unit (for) the immense effort that people put in to ensuring that people in that correctional facility had access to what they needed to control this outbreak and were cared for and supported through this last and very difficult number of weeks.”
The protocols developed at the Mission Institution in conjunction with federal correctional services and health authorities to deal with the outbreak are now used in facilities across the country, Dr. Henry said.
“I think that’s a real testament to the amount of effort and expertise that we have in the province to support this type of outbreak response,” she said.
