B.C. records 749 new cases of COVID-19 and 9 more deaths

B.C. health officials announced 749 new cases of COVID-19 and nine more deaths on Thursday.

In a written statement, the provincial Ministry of Health said that the number of active cases and overall hospitalizations are not available because of the federal holiday marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

However, 145 people are in intensive care with the disease a decrease of two per cent from last Thursday, when there were 148 ICU patients.

The provincialdeath toll from COVID-19is now 1,962 lives lost out of 186,994 confirmed cases to date.

The regional breakdown of new cases is as follows:

• 267 new cases in Fraser Health.
• 157 new cases in Interior Health.
• 148 new cases in Northern Health.
• 113 new cases in Vancouver Coastal Health.
• 64 new cases in Island Health.
• There are no new cases among people who reside outside of Canada.

Thereare22 active outbreaks in assisted living, long-term care and acute-care units of hospitals.

As of Thursday, 88per cent of those 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of aCOVID-19 vaccineand 81per cent asecond dose.

From Sept. 22 to 28, people who were not fully vaccinated accounted for 71.2 per cent of cases. From Sept. 15 to 28,they accounted for 80.6 per cent of hospitalizations, the province said.

So far, 7.85 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C.