B.C. recorded fewer than 100 new COVID-19 infections for the fifth day in a row on June 23, helping reduce the number of those actively infected with the disease, government data show.
There are now 1,119 people in B.C. actively battling infections. That is 31 fewer than yesterday, and it is a number that has fallen in each of the government's 43 most recent data updates. There has not been so few people in B.C. battling active COVID-19 infections since August 31, when there were 1,107 such people.
Health officials detected 87 new infections overnight, raising the number of people known to have contracted the disease to 147,271. Of those, the province has deemed that more than 98%, or 144,383 individuals have recovered. That is because those individuals have gone at least 10 days since first exhibiting symptoms, and the province therefore no longer considers them to be infectious.
Testing increased slightly in the past day, to 6,034 tests. The positive test rate therefore fell to 1.44% in the past day, up slightly from 1.33 yesterday, when 56 new cases were identified.
By health region, the 87 infections discovered in the past day includes:
• 13 in Vancouver Coastal Health (15%);
• 30 in Fraser Health (34.5%);
• three in Island Health (3.4%);
• 41 in Interior Health (47.1%); and
• no cases in Northern Health (0%).
Serious infections continue to stay lower than in recent weeks. The number of those in hospitals fell by two overnight, to 109, with 41 of those in intensive care units, which is the same number as yesterday.
Unfortunately, one person died overnight while fighting a COVID-19 infection. That raises the province's death toll from the disease to 1,744.
B.C.'s vaccination effort is chugging along, with 58,230 new doses of vaccine administered in the past day. Of those, 7,512 went into previously unvaccinated people, while 50,718 doses went to people as a needed second dose.
In total, since the first dose in B.C. was provided on December 16, B.C. has provided 4,570,153 doses of vaccine to 3,518,243 people, with 1,051,910 of those getting needed second doses.
Provincial health officer Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said June 23 in a joint statement that the vaccine numbers translate into 77.2% of all adults in B.C. being vaccinated with at least one dose, while 75.8% of those aged 12 years and older have been vaccinated. Those percentages include a data correction, they added.
"We are progressing well, and we need to keep going," Henry and Dix said. "For every person who gets vaccinated, it will allow us to gradually transition and safely reopen many things that have been on hold."
New outbreaks at seniors' homes include Minoru Residence in Richmond, and Hollyburn House in West Vancouver.
That means that there are now four active outbreaks at B.C. seniors' homes:
• Hollyburn House in West Vancouver;
• Minoru Residence in Richmond;
• Glenwood Seniors' Community in Agassiz; and
• Rotary Manor in Dawson Creek.
There is also an active outbreak at Port Moody's Eagle Ridge Hospital.
