COVID case numbers in B.C. moving in wrong direction

After a gradual decline in COVID-19 case numbers in recent days the count went the other way in the last 24 hours with 696 new cases in B.C., 118 of which were in the Interior Health region.

Case loads continue to be a problem in the Northern Health region with 191 new cases, while Fraser Health recorded 252, according to a Ministry of Health news release issued today, Oct. 20. There were 76 new cases in the Vancouver Coastal health region and 59 on Vancouver Island.

Of the six new deaths, five were in Fraser Health and one in Vancouver Coastal, bringing the death toll from the virus to 2,092.

There are 4,888 active cases in B.C. with 705 in Interior Health. There are 370 B.C. residents in hospital, of which 139 are in intensive care.

There are 89.3% of B.C. residents with at least one dose of vaccine while 83.6% have two doses.

Most of the new cases (60%) and hospitalizations (68.8%) are in people who have not received even one dose of vaccine.

READ MORECity of Kamloops employees require mandatory COVID vaccinations


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Rob Munro

Rob Munro has a long history in journalism after starting an underground newspaper in Whitehorse called the Yukon Howl in 1980. He spent five years at the 100 Mile Free Press, starting in the darkroom, moving on to sports and news reporting before becoming the advertising manager. He came to Kelowna in 1989 as a reporter for the Kelowna Daily Courier, and spent the 1990s mostly covering city hall. For most of the past 20 years he worked full time for the union representing newspaper workers throughout B.C. He’s returned to his true love of being a reporter with a special focus on civic politics