985 people in hospital in B.C. with COVID

There are now 985 people with a positive COVID test in B.C. hospitals, 145 of whom are in intensive care units.

As many as 65% of people in hospital with a COVID diagnosis were not in hospital because of COVID but were tested after going to hospital for things like surgery, delivering a baby or being admitted to a mental health unit.

There were 1,518 positive cases of COVID recorded in B.C. in the last 24 hours, according to a Ministry of Health news release issued today, Feb. 3.

There were 431 new cases recorded in the Interior Health region, 424 in Fraser Health, 217 in Vancouver Coastal, 217 on Vancouver Island and 227 in the Northern Health region.

Since most B.C. residents with COVID are told they don’t need to get tested or may take a rapid test, the actual number of cases is likely three to four times higher, health officials have said.

There have been 13 more COVID deaths in the last 24 hours, including two people from the Interior Health region, bringing the pandemic death toll to 2,656.

READ MORE: COVID-19: A timeline of the pandemic and how it changed our lives over the past two years

There are 25,554 active cases in B.C.

The vaccination rate for people over the age of 12 is 92.8% with at least one dose and 90.1% with at least two doses while 47.6% have three doses.

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