COVID numbers continue to fall as B.C. records 324 new cases of COVID-19 and 7 more deaths

B.C. health officials announced 324 new cases of COVID-19 and seven more deaths on Wednesday.

In a written statement, the provincial government said there are currently 3,380active cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus in B.C.

A total of 379people are in hospital, with109 in intensive care.

Overall hospitalizations, which typically lag behind spikes and dips in new cases, are down by six per cent from last Wednesday, when 404people were in hospital with the disease.

The number of patients in intensive care is down by about sevenper cent from 117a week ago.

The provincialdeath toll from COVID-19is now 2,281 lives lost out of 207,779 confirmed cases to date.

The regional breakdown of new cases is as follows:

• 108 new cases in Fraser Health, which has 1,211total active cases.
• 73 new cases in Northern Health, which has 507total active cases.
• 60 new cases in Vancouver Coastal Health, which has 492total active cases.
• 50 new cases in Interior Health, which has 622total active cases.
• 33 new cases in Island Health, which has 479 total active cases.
• There are no new cases among people who reside outside of Canada, a group which has 59total active cases.

There are a total of 13active outbreaks in assisted living and long-termand acute care.

Acute care outbreaksinclude:

• Queen's Park Care Centre,
• Abbotsford Regional Hospital.
• Burnaby Hospital.
• Ridge Meadows Hospital.
• Royal Inland Hospital and
• Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.

As of Wednesday, 90.7per cent of those 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of aCOVID-19 vaccineand 86.9per cent asecond dose.

From Nov. 9-15, people who were not fully vaccinated accounted for 60.8 per cent of cases and from Nov. 2-15,they accounted for 71.9per cent of hospitalizations, according to the province.

So far, 8.4million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, including four million second doses.

Exemptions at U.S. border

The CanadaBorder Services Agency (CBSA) said Wednesday in a written statementthat given the current situation in B.C., travellers who must go through U.S. to get to their residence in Canada are exempt from the COVID-19 pre-arrival test, the test in Canada, and quarantine requirements.

"There are many factors that come into play when a CBSA border services officer is determining which instructions are provided to a traveller," it said.

"CBSA officers use all of the information available to them when a traveller is seeking entry into Canada to determine which set of instructions apply to the traveller."