862 new cases of COVID-19 in B.C.; 54 in Interior Health
B.C. health officials are reporting 862 new cases of COVID-19, 54 of which were in the Interior Health region. In total there have now been 121,751 cases in B.C., and 8,906 are currently active. Of the active cases, 483 individuals are currently hospitalized and 164 are in intensive...
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B.C. health officials are reporting 862 new cases of COVID-19, 54 of which were in the Interior Health region.
In total there have now been 121,751 cases in B.C., and 8,906 are currently active. Of the active cases, 483 individuals are currently hospitalized and 164 are in intensive care. There is no new update today, April 21, on the variants of concern.
There have been seven new COVID-19 related deaths for a total of 1,546 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Additionally, the number of vaccinations has risen — 1,456,946 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 88,335 of which are second doses.
People 30 years and older are now eligible to register for a vaccine in the age-based program on the Get Vaccinated website. People aged 40 and up are also now eligible to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine at their local pharmacy or through special clinics in 13 high-risk communities.
"We continue to do all we can to break the chains of transmission in our communities and slow COVID-19 down. One of the steps we are taking is the Workplace Closure public health order, which gives WorkSafeBC the ability to close businesses for at least 10 days under the direction of health authority medical health officers," provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a joint statement.
"Through this order, we are helping to prevent transmission at work, supporting businesses to ensure workplaces are safe for everyone and ensuring people do not unintentionally spread the virus to colleagues or bring COVID-19 back home to their families.
"Our front-line health-care workers are under intense pressure and the number of people requiring specialized care in our critical and intensive care units continues to increase. This is the result of our individual and collective actions from two weeks ago. What we do today will determine how we fare two weeks from now."
Since they last reported, there have been 200 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 557 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 25 in the Island Health region, 26 in the Northern Health region and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.
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