British Columbia health officials reported Wednesday no new deaths due to COVID-19 for the fifth day in a row while no new cases were reported in the Northern Health region.
As well, according to a B.C. Centre for Disease Control update, the number of active cases in Northern Health declined by one over the past 24 hours, although that person was in critical care.
Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said in a joint statement that the province's death toll remains at 167.
They said there was one new outbreak at a long-term care facility in Vancouver, Holy Family Hospital, meaning five care homes have ongoing outbreaks.
Twelve more people have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total confirmed cases to 2,680.
Dix and Henry said 185 of those cases are active and 12 people are in hospital, four of whom are in intensive care.
They said there have been no new community outbreaks, though surveillance and testing recently identified two clusters of COVID-19 associated with large family connections.
"This tells us that our public health teams are quickly identifying new cases. It also tells us that while our overall provincial cases may be low, COVID-19 is active and spreading in our communities," Dix and Henry said.
"When you bring households together, regardless of how many people that may include, everyone brings their own risk with them and the potential for spreading COVID-19 increases."
- with files from The Canadian Press
