Deaths, ICU counts continue to mount in B.C. due to COVID pandemic

The serious consequences of the COVID pandemic are far from over even with the less-deadly Omicron variant.

There are now 977 people in hospital with COVID, 141 of whom are in intensive care, according to a Ministry of Health news release issued today, Jan. 27.

That’s close to the highest number ever in both hospitalizations and intensive care admissions.

Those numbers include everyone with a positive COVID test. It’s estimated that 45% of them have mild or no symptoms.

There were also 13 more deaths in the last 24 hours, including one in Interior Health. That follows on 21 yesterday. There are now 2,588 fatalities due to COVID in B.C. over the past two years of the pandemic.

There were 2,033 B.C. residents who tested positive to COVID tests in the last 24 hours, down a bit from yesterday. That includes 539 new cases in the Interior Health region, up from 455 yesterday.

There were 685 cases reported in the Fraser Health region, 378 in Vancouver Coastal, 266 on Vancouver Island and 165 in the Northern Health region.

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

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

There are 29,556 active cases in B.C.

The vaccination rate for people over the age of 12 is unchanged at 92.6% with at least one dose but rose slightly to 90% with at least two doses. Those with three doses has climbed to 43.0%.

The outbreak at Kelowna General Hospital has been declared over.

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