B.C. records highest ever three-day case count during COVID-19 pandemic

British Columbia has recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases in a single day, with 317 new cases identified Friday to Saturday. 

A further 293 cases were identified from Saturday to Sunday and 207 in the past 24 hours, totalling 817 new cases over the weekend. 

Of the 817 new cases recorded in the province, 31 came from the Interior Health region. There are 86 active cases in isolation within the IH region, one of whom is in hospital. 

There were 28,125 tests were completed over the weekend in B.C. equating to a 2.9 per cent positivity rate.

"This is a bit of a sobering weekend for us ... and it is concerning to us that we continue to see growth," says provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry. 

The weekend tally brings the number of COVID-19 cases in B.C. since the beginning of the pandemic to 13,371, and of those, 10,734 have fully recovered from the virus. 

There are now 2,325 active cases in B.C., including 77 in hospital, 26 of whom are in ICU. 

Across the province, 5,077 are self-isolating and under active public health monitoring as a result of exposure to a known positive case.

Three new COVID-19 related deaths occurred over the weekend, all three of whom were in long-term care facilities in the Vancouver Coastal Health region. 

There are an additional four active healthcare outbreaks in the province, all in long-term care homes. Three are in the Fraser Health region and one is in the Vancouver Coastal Health region. 

Three healthcare outbreaks previously identified at Chartwell House, Thornbridge Gardens and Point Grey Hospital, have now been declared over.

This brings the total number of healthcare outbreaks in B.C. to 21, 19 in long-term care or assisted living facilities and two in acute care facilities. 

One new community outbreak was declared at the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre, and the outbreak at the FedEx office in Kelowna has been declared over. 

As a result of exposures, two schools have been closed for the duration of the COVID-19 incubation period, one in the Fraser Health region and one in the Interior Health region at Kelowna's École de l’Anse-au-sable.

"We know of course this would be a possibility, especially in some of the smaller schools where the potential of exposure impacts a larger proportion of the school population," says Henry. 

"While the numbers of people with COVID-19 are small, the requirement for those in contact to be in self-isolation has meant the school can no longer safely operate, so schools are working with families to ensure educational opportunities continue remotely during this period."

She also reminded residents to regularly check health websites for community and school exposures.