The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed five more lives in Northern Health, numbers issued Wednesday by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control are showing.
The count increases the total to 85 deaths in the region since the pandemic broke out and were among 16 reported province-wide. Fraser Health accounted for seven, Vancouver Coastal for three and Vancouver Island for one.
Active cases in Northern Health stood at 365, down 22 from the day before. Those in hospital totaled 18, down 16, while those in intensive care grew by three to 17. Province-wide, there were 4,426 active cases, down 116. Fraser Health accounted for 1,677, down 27, Interior Health for 992, down 22, Vancouver Coastal for 1,112, down 39, and Vancouver Island 273, down five. Active cases for patients from outside Canada stood at seven, down one.
Thirty-four new cases were reported in Northern Health and were among 414 for B.C. In Fraser Health, there were 182, Vancouver Coastal, 108, Island Health 26 and one new case of a person who resides outside of Canada.
On Tuesday, Northern Health provided updates on two ongoing outbreaks at Jubilee Lodge and the internal medicine unit at University Hospital of Northern B.C. It said 16 residents at Jubilee who had tested positive have died since the outbreak was declared on Dec. 12, up two from an update provided a week before. As well, there have been nine patient deaths at the internal medicine unit since Dec. 29, up one from the week previous.
In a joint statement, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and health minister Adrian Dix continued to urge physical distancing and wearing masks while out in public.
"We know the COVID-19 variants make things more challenging as the virus is more likely to spread quickly, which is why we all need to continue to make safe choices," they said. "Until the COVID-19 vaccines are available for all of us, let's choose less and choose small. This is the path to get to the brighter days ahead."
