622 new COVID-19 cases in B.C.; 30 in Interior Health

With hundreds of new COVID-19 cases being recorded in B.C. every day, people have to continue to take precautions against spreading the virus.

That warning comes in a joint statement issued today, March 18, by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix.

“Until we have the confidence the pandemic is behind us, we all need continue to follow the COVID-19 safety plans, to be vigilant in our precautions and diligent in our efforts to stop the spread,” the statement said.

There were 622 new cases in B.C. in the last 24 hours. That pushes the provincial total since the pandemic started a year ago to 90,049.

READ MORE: UPDATE: B.C. frontline workers can start booking vaccines in April

Of the new cases, 317 were in the Fraser Health region, 184 in Vancouver Coastal, 35 on Vancouver Island, 30 in the Interior Health region and 54 in the Northern Health region.

There were eight more deaths, bringing the provincial total to 1,419.

There are 4,941 active cases in B.C. with 286 people in hospital, 85 of whom are in intensive care.

Another 136 cases of variants of concern have been detected.

There have been 1,132, such cases recorded in B.C., of which 143 are active. Most, 1,040, are the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 41 are the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant and 51 are the P.1 (Brazil) variant.

The province has administered more than 465,000 doses of vaccines, including 87,000 second doses.

“On our current age-based trajectory, everyone who is eligible for a vaccine will have access to a vaccine before July 1, 2021,” the statement said.

Those over the age of 80 have been booking vaccination appointments this week. Starting on Saturday afternoon, March 20, those over 79 can start booking. Eligibility to book vaccination appointments by age goes down by one year per day next week.

The number to call to book an appointment in the Interior Health region is 1-877-740-7747.

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