What you need to know about COVID-19 in B.C. for Jan. 21

THE LATEST:

• Health officials have called off their regular Thursday briefing to hold a Friday-morning news conference instead.
• 564 new cases of COVID-19 and 15moredeaths were reported Thursday afternoon.
• There are currently 4,450 active cases of the coronavirusin B.C.
• 309 people are in hospital, with 68in the ICU.
• 104,901 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C., including1,680 second doses.
• There is new community cluster in and around Williams Lake.
• There are no new outbreaks in the health-care system, but six have been declared over.

On Thursday, B.C. health officials announced 564 new cases of COVID-19 and 15more deaths.

In a written statement, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix put the number of hospitalized patients at 309people, 68of whom are in intensive care. Hospitalizations are now at their lowest level since Nov. 28

A total of 1,119 people in B.C. have lost their lives to COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

Henry and Dix said a new community cluster has been detected in and around Williams Lake. There are no new outbreaks in the health-care system, and six outbreaks have been declared over.

So far, 104,901 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C., including1,680 second doses.

Health officials cancelled their regular COVID-19 briefing Thursday as they prepared to update the province's strategy for immunization against the virus, and the daily update was provided in a written statement instead.

Henry and Dix will join anewsconference Friday with Premier John HorganandDr. Penny Ballem, who is leading B.C.'s COVID-19 immunization rollout.

The four are expected to comment on the next steps in the immunization program that has been complicated by a hiccup in vaccine supply from Pfizer-BioNTech.

Nearly 31,000 doses of vaccine the province expected by Jan. 29 could be curtailed due to production issues.

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• Central Mountain Air announced Tuesday it is suspending flights betweenFort Nelson, B.C.and the northern hub ofPrince George,leaving thesmall northeasterncommunity with no flight services for at least three months. The company says the slump is, in part, due to reduced travel because of COVID-19.
• A B.C. respirologist involved in a COVID rapid testing pilot project ending next month says the tests, so far, are proving to be a useful, inexpensive and simple tool to aid in the defence against COVID-19 transmission.
• Vancouver businesses say they expect to struggle in 2021 due to COVID-19.
• The seemingly more transmissible variants of the coronavirus first discovered in Britain, South Africa and Brazil are called "variants of concern" by the World Health Organization.Here's a look at what's driving the concern and calls for more precautions in Canada.

What's happening elsewhere in Canada

As of 7p.m. PT on Wednesday, Canada had reported 724,670cases of COVID-19, and 18,462 total deaths.

A total of 68,413 cases are considered active.

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