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B.C. health officials provided a COVID-19 data update.

COVID-19 in B.C.: 341 new cases

Published 4:09 PST, Fri November 26, 2021

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B.C. health authorities reported 341 new cases of COVID-19 today. Since the pandemic began, B.C. has recorded 217,099 cases.

Of the new cases, 65 are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region (including Richmond), 100 in the Fraser Health region, 68 in the Island Health region, 77 in the Interior Health region, 31 in the Northern Health region and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

There are 3,035 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C. and 291 of those people are hospitalized, 115 of whom are in intensive care.

To date, 8,630,478 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C.; 4,060,193 of those are second doses.

This means that 91.4 per cent of adults and 91.0 per cent of people aged 12 and older have received their first dose of a vaccine. In addition, 88.1 per cent of adults and 87.6 per cent of those aged 12 and older have received two doses.

Sadly, there were six new virus-related deaths reported today, bringing that total to 2,322. Of those who died, two lived in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, three in the Fraser Health region and one in the Northern Health region.

Health authorities reported two healthcare facility outbreaks over. Active outbreaks continue at four long-term care facilities, one assisted or independent living facility and three acute care facilities.

From Nov. 18 to 24, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 59.2 per cent of cases.
From Nov. 11 to 24, they accounted for 68.4 per cent of hospitalizations.

Past week cases (Nov. 18 to 24)—Total 2,612

• Not vaccinated: 1,461 (55.9 per cent)

• Partially vaccinated: 87 (3.3 per cent)

• Fully vaccinated: 1,064 (40.7 per cent)

Past two weeks cases hospitalized (Nov. 11 to 24)—Total 294

• Not vaccinated: 182 (61.9 per cent)

• Partially vaccinated: 19 (6.5 per cent)

• Fully vaccinated: 93 (31.6 per cent)

Past week, cases per 100,000 population after adjusting for age (Nov. 18 to 24)

• Not vaccinated: 195.9

• Partially vaccinated: 39.0

• Fully vaccinated: 23.9

Past two weeks, cases hospitalized per 100,000 population after adjusting for age (Nov. 11 to 24)

• Not vaccinated: 38.3

• Partially vaccinated: 11.9

• Fully vaccinated: 2.0

On the new COVID-19 variant of concern (VOC), Omicron, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix issued a joint statement:

"We support the measures taken today by the federal government in response to the newly identified variant of concern, Omicron. We do not yet know the impact this new VOC will have on transmission or of severity of illness, but taking this immediate precautionary action is prudent. We will continue to closely monitor developments around the world.

"At this time, there is no evidence that this variant has been introduced into British Columbia. The BC Centre for Disease Control's public health lab has sequenced over 90,000 virus isolates in B.C. and will continue to use whole genome sequencing to monitor for all variants circulating in B.C., including this new VOC Omicron.

"In addition, public health will be working with the Public Health Agency of Canada and Canada Border Services Agency to identify any people recently returned from the areas of concern to arrange testing and to ensure they remain well.

"In British Columbia, 91 per cent of eligible people have received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. So far, all of the Health Canada-approved vaccines are highly effective and provide strong protection against all variants. We will monitor the data on this new VOC to ensure that will continue to be the case. Reducing transmission and having high levels of protection through vaccination continues to be our best defence against all variants of COVID-19.

"We continue to urge all British Columbians to follow any provincial health officer orders or public health orders in place, stay home when sick, wash hands frequently and most importantly, to get fully vaccinated if you haven't done so already."

For the latest medical updates, including case counts, prevention, risks and to find a testing centre near you: http://www.bccdc.ca/ or follow @CDCofBC on Twitter.