Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.'s provincial health officer, have issued the following joint statement regarding updates on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) response in British Columbia:
"Today we are announcing eight new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 2,232 cases in British Columbia.
"Every health region in British Columbia has patients with COVID-19: 849 are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 1,031 are in the Fraser Health region, 124 are in the Island Health region, 177 are in the Interior Health region and 51 are in the Northern Health region.
"We are saddened to report four new COVID-19 related deaths, three in the Fraser Health region and one in Vancouver Coastal Health region, for a total of 121 deaths in British Columbia. We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones.
"In the last day, there has been one new long-term care facility outbreak at Evergreen House in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and two outbreaks at acute-care units at Ridge Meadows and Richmond Hospitals. In total, 17 facilities and five acute-care units have active outbreaks, with outbreaks now declared over at 17 care facilities.
"Public health teams are also providing support to a number of community outbreaks, actively contact tracing those who may be directly affected and their close contacts.
"There are seven confirmed positive cases at Fraser Valley Specialty Poultry, 55 at Superior Poultry in Coquitlam and 35 employees confirmed positive at United Poultry in Vancouver.
"There are also 134 inmates and staff confirmed positive at the Mission Institution federal correctional centre, as well as 15 positive cases of COVID-19 connected to the Kearl Lake plant in Alberta.
"To date, 1,472 people who had tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered.
"Of the total COVID-19 cases, 78 individuals are hospitalized, and 21 of those are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.
"We have to be prepared that it will take some time for a vaccine to be developed and broadly available for everyone. Our current understanding is that it could be up to 18 months. Until that time, we must continue to hold the line on COVID-19, even as we gradually ease some restrictions. This is the balance that we must find together.
"We have put the brakes on COVID-19, but new cases and outbreaks persist. As the modelling has shown, moving too quickly can only cause harm to us all.