There are now 2,171 cases of COVID-19 in B.C., after health officials announced 26 new cases Saturday.
According to Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, there are 832 cases in Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), 992 in Fraser Health, 123 on Vancouver Island, 175 in Interior Health and 49 in Northern Health.
As of Saturday, there are no new outbreaks in long-term care facilities. Currently, there are 21 active outbreaks in long-term facilities and three acute care unit outbreaks in the Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health regions. Outbreaks are declared over at 12 care facilities.
The provincial health officer said 120 people with COVID-19 are associated with the ongoing outbreak at the Mission federal correctional institute in the Fraser Valley.
There are 15 positive cases of COVID-19 connected to the Kearl Lake plant in Alberta, "one of the more challenging issues we've had recently," Henry said.
"We are requiring people who have come back from working at that facility to self-isolate whilst they're in B.C.," she said. "This is essential work, and people are going back and forth for work, but as cases continue to be found both in Alberta and here in B.C., this is vitally important for us ... that anyone who has been at this site since March 24 needs to follow our requirements in British Columbia when they are home." She urged those who've visited the facility to monitor themselves and their families for symptoms.
"We cannot afford to have any missteps as we look to ease our restrictions in the coming days and weeks."
Henry announced a new community outbreak at Fraser Valley Specialty Poultry. An ongoing investigation has confirmed three cases.
Meanwhile, a total of 50 people have tested positive in the ongoing community outbreak at Superior Poultry, a chicken processing plant in Coquitlam. In addition, there are 42 positive cases related to the initial outbreak that took place at United Poultry Company Ltd., a Vancouver processing plant. Investigations remain ongoing at both plants.
There have been two additional deaths in B.C. in the past 24 hours, including one in the Fraser Health Authority and another in the VCH region, for a total of 114 fatalities in the province.
The number of B.C. patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 continues to decline, with 72 people currently receiving acute care.
Henry reported 1,376 people have fully recovered and are no longer in isolation.
Earlier this week, Henry stated that despite a number of community outbreaks, the decrease in cases is clear evidence that the sustained efforts to follow public health measures have slowed the rate of transmission of COVID-19.
"In addition, our increased surveillance testing has led us to find people in our community who are positive for COVID-19 and the vast majority of them are linked to outbreaks now, which is an important thing for us to understand so that we know where transmission is happening in our community," Henry said.
Henry also noted that the province will provide the latest COVID-19 modeling on Monday, as well as the latest details on the epidemiology regarding who has been affected in B.C.
- with files from Elana Shepert
