Coronavirus: British Columbia records another 873 preliminary cases, two new deaths

B.C.'s COVID-19 curve continues to bend in the wrong direction.

In a written statement this afternoon (April 13), Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said 873 more tests came back positive for the virus across B.C. during the past 24 hours for a new grand total of 113,702.

However, officials say these numbers could change due to a delay in the "Public Health Reporting Data Warehouse lab system." The case count could be adjusted once it's confirmed with PHRDW data.

Of those infections, Northern Health added 28, raising the authority total to 6,595 since March 14, 2020.

Another 873 COVID-19 cases detected in B.C. in the past 24 hours according to health officials. #bcpoli #covidbc #covid19bc #covid19 #bced #cdnpoli #cityofpg @PGMatters
— Jess Balzer (@jessicajbalzer) April 13, 2021

There have been two new COVID-linked deaths, which raises the province's toll to 1,515.

There are currently 9,756 active cases throughout B.C. with 377 people in hospital, 116 of which are admitted in ICU or critical care.

Another 16,290 are under active public health monitoring due to being exposed to someone diagnosed with the virus, while 102,268 are classified as recovered.

Prov. total - 113,702
New Northern Health - 28
Active B.C. - 9,756
Public health monitoring prov. - 16,290
Hospital B.C. - 377
ICU B.C. - 116
New deaths, total B.C. - 2/1,515#bcpoli #covidbc #covid19bc #covid19 #bced #cdnpoli #cityofpg @PGMatters
— Jess Balzer (@jessicajbalzer) April 13, 2021

While other authorities in the province continue to see rises in COVID-19 positivity rates, Northern Health's is starting to trend downwards.

According to data from the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), as of Sunday (April 11), Northern Health's seven-day moving average for positivity rate is at 13.9 per cent.

On April 6, the positivity rate in the region was 17.9 per cent.

Fraser Health currently sits at 12.2 per cent, Vancouver Coastal Health is at 10.6 per cent, Interior Health at 8.2 per cent and Island Health at 4.7 per cent.

The provincial positivity rate is at 11.2 per cent.

One of the biggest contributors in B.C. and high positivity rates is the P.1 variant, originating from Brazil, with officials struggling to stop transmission.

Scientists believe that P.1 can spread more easily than other strains, may cause more serious illness in some, and may be resistant to vaccines.

The path to finding P.1 cases is to run positive COVID-19 samples through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests that determine whether the cases are of variant forms of the virus, but do not specify which kinds. Scientists then conduct genome sequencing to determine specific variants.

The standard process through the first week of April was for BCCDC researchers to screen about 90 per cent of new positive COVID-19 cases with PCR tests to determine if the cases were likely variants of concern.

Researchers would then take any positive test and conduct full genome sequencing to determine the exact variant in the infection.

The process that provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry outlined on April 8 will be to do fewer full genome sequencing tests on cases that are known through PCR test results to be likely variants of concern.

"We need now to shift our strategy so that we can use the whole genome sequencing capacity we have in B.C. to do more systematic testing and sampling of all of the strains to make sure we're not missing another important one that may be arising," Henry said.

"We don't need to test so much anymore to understand if we have the [B.1.1.7] U.K. strain here, because it is here, and it's increasing, and it is causing more transmission in communities around the province."

In education, an up-to-date list of northern B.C. schools marked for COVID-19 exposure events in the month of April is as follows: