Variance granted for outdoor worship services as BC sees 682 new cases

The provincial health officer’s order on gatherings and events has been amended today to provide a variance for outdoor worship services.

This announcement came as the province reported 682 new cases of COVID-19 in BC, including 23 in the north.

Of Northern Health’s 5599 total cases, 315 are considered active.

One death has been reported in the province, confirmed to be in the north as well.

The region has accounted for 120 of BC’s 1438 deaths.

Meanwhile, BC has 93,253 cases and 5409 are currently active infections.

“Starting today, letters will be sent to people 16 and older who are clinically extremely vulnerable to severe illness from COVID-19 to let them know they are eligible to receive an earlier vaccine through the age-based immunization program,” said Provincial Health Officer Doctor Bonnie Henry.

“Significant work has been done to identify those health conditions that would cause someone to be clinically extremely vulnerable, as well as to identify the people in our province who have these illnesses.”

Of the active cases, 314 individuals are currently hospitalized, 83 of whom are in intensive care.

There have been 144 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern, for a total of 1510.

Of the total cases, 171 are active and the remaining people have recovered.

On the vaccine front, over 557 thousand doses have been given out, roughly 18,000 more than yesterday.

A further 86,307 people who tested positive have recovered — about 93 percent of cases.

Regional breakdown

Vancouver: 21,909 (+229)

Fraser: 53,853 (+333)

Vancouver Island: 2,972 (+19)

Interior: 8,126 (+76)

36 of the new cases reported in the Interior Health region are historic cases added from data correction.

Northern: 5,204 (+23)

Residents of other countries: 170 (+2)

Variants of concern:

B117 first found in the UK: 1,357 (+117) cases

B1351 first found in South Africa: 43 (+2) cases

P1 first found in Brazil: 110 (+25) cases

#CovidBC update: 682 new cases since we last reported, for a total of 93,253 cases in BC. There has been one new death, for a total of 1,438. To date, 557,508 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in BC. https://t.co/pZu9r8sAyT pic.twitter.com/6dmgpmS2ey

— BC Government News (@BCGovNews) March 24, 2021