BC follows up record breaking day with 223 new cases of COVID-19

Health officials announced another 223 cases of COVID-19 have been reported 24-hours after BC set an all-time high for daily cases.

On Thursday, BC broke its daily case count record with 274 new cases, which quickly eclipsed the record number of 203 cases set on Wednesday.

After the busy week, there are now 2,009 active cases in the province and 4,637 people under active public health monitoring as a result of exposure to known cases.

Currently, 75 individuals are hospitalized with the virus, 24 of whom are in intensive care.

There have been no new COVID-19 related deaths in BC.

Dr. Bonnie Henry also confirmed that there are now eleven cases linked to Kelowna’s Ecole de l’Anse-au-Sable School, the first school-related outbreak in BC.

Henry said 160 members of the school community are now at home self-isolating while health officials continue to investigate who may have been exposed.

There have been a total of 213 exposure events and six clusters (where more than one person has been exposed) of BC's more than 2,000-plus schools.

According to Henry, most of the exposures occurred in the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser health regions.

“In recent days, we have seen a number of new outbreaks of COVID-19 in the community and in long-term care facilities. Contact-tracing teams throughout our province are working around the clock to stop further spread, but it requires all of us to do our part to be successful in these efforts," said Dr. Bonnie Henry in a statement.

“This is our opportunity and the time to take a step back from our social interactions and keep our groups small this weekend. In doing this, we show our appreciation and support for the important work of contact tracers."

Health officials are warning that additional measures could be introduced if transmission continues, such as restrictions tied to weddings.