B.C.'s number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals fell for the third consecutive day, by 26, to 867, while 138 of those are in intensive care units (ICUs).
Provincial data show five more COVID-19 deaths overnight, bringing the province's pandemic death toll to 2,730.
Government officials today stopped providing data for active infections and the number of those believed to have recovered from their bouts with COVID-19.
The last official data for those metrics, from yesterday, was that 21,974 people were actively infected across the province, and that 310,533 of 336,229 infected people had recovered from the disease.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry yesterday said the change is because that data is "no longer accurate."
Those metrics, as well as the one for new known infections, have been largely disregarded since December, when Henry told vaccinated people with mild symptoms to simply stay home and isolate, and not get tested. It is unclear why the province is continuing to report a statistic for new known infections – 1,318 in the past day.
"We've changed our testing strategy to focus on those people who need a test because it affects their health management, or because it's important for them in terms of returning to work," Henry said yesterday. "Because of that, a couple of the metrics that we've been reporting on daily, particularly the the ones, about active cases, and people who have been removed from isolation, are no longer accurate."
Health officials in the past day conducted 9,863 tests, for a positive-test rate of nearly 13.4 per cent.
Henry has recently been stressing that older people, particularly those older than 80 years, are by far more vulnerable for serious illnesses.
That is why the 53 active outbreaks at health-care facilities or seniors' homes are such a concern.
That total is, however, one fewer than yesterday, as there was one new outbreak, at Chartwell Langley Gardens, while two outbreaks were declared over: at Evergreen House in North Vancouver, and at Creekside Landing in Vernon.
Provincial data show 4,501,768 eligible B.C. residents older than five years have had at least one dose of vaccine, while 4,230,298 are considered fully vaccinated with two doses.
There were 19,394 people given booster, or third, doses of vaccine in the past day, for a total of 2,366,985. That is the lowest number of new booster shots provided since Dec. 21, when 17,555 people received their third dose.
Exactly how many people live in B.C. is a matter of debate. The most updated BC Stats data, from mid-2021, . Statistics Canada data was released yesterday, relaying that B.C.'s population had increased 7.6 per cent between 2016 and 2021, and that the new total was 5,000,879.
If the larger number is deemed more recent, because the province has been attracting new residents, Glacier Media's calculation is that 86.3 per cent of B.C.'s total population has had at least one dose of vaccine, and 81.1 per cent of the province's total population has had two doses. Nearly 45.4 per cent have had their booster doses. •
