What you need to know about COVID-19 in B.C. for Feb. 8

THE LATEST:

• Health officials announced 1,236 new cases confirmed over the weekend and 13more deaths.
• There are now 234 patientsin hospital with COVID-19, including 69in intensive care.
• As of Monday, there are3,976 active cases in the province.
• A total of1,259 people have died out of70,952 confirmed cases in B.C.
• 154,496doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, including12,111second doses.
• 25 cases of the variant first found in the U.K. and 15 of the variant reported in South Africa have been confirmed in B.C.
• The current restrictions on social gatherings have been extended indefinitely.

After weeks of choked COVID-19 vaccine supplies, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Monday that she anticipates mass vaccination clinics will begin in March.

First in line will be people over the age of 80, who will receive instructions soon on how to get the shot, Henry said.

Her remarks were part of the firstprovincial update on the COVID-19 pandemic since Friday. Over the last three days, another 1,236 infections of the novel coronavirus have been confirmed and 13 more people have died.

As of Monday, there are 234 patients in hospital with COVID-19, including 69 in intensive care, out of 3,976 active cases across the province.

To date, there have been70,952 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in B.C., including1,259 people who have died.

B.C. has now seen a total of 40 confirmed cases of coronavirus variants of concern, including 25 of the variant first reported in the U.K. and 15 of the variant first reported in South Africa. Henry said all but one of those cases have been connected to travel or close contact with someone who has travelled.

So far,154,496doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, including12,111second doses.

Health officials have said recent numbers are an encouraging sign that the province is slowly bending down the rate of infections, but current restrictions must stay in place to avoid ruining that progress.

Speaking on CBC'sThe Early Edition earlieron Monday, Health Minister Adrian Dix said there are still between 400 and500 new cases of COVID-19 being detected daily, while new coronavirus variants being reported across the world are alarming.

"That's an area of concern," Dix said.

"While our vaccine program has gone well ... we aren't going to get enough vaccine in the coming month or so to create any kind of community immunity. So all of those are a reason to extend our controls on gatherings over the next number of weeks."

Events and gatherings still banned

Restaurants and bars held muted Super Bowl celebrations on Sunday, under restrictions that specify diners should be from the same household.

Data released Fridayfrom the latest round of modellingshows the COVID-19 reproductive number hovering around one in every health authority, which means that each case is still leading on average to one othercase.

All events and social gatherings remain banned, including in-person religious services, and masks must be worn in indoor public spaces.

Last week, Henrysaid there's a chance restrictions might change by March, but there is no official expirydate on the extended orders.

"By the end of the month, once again, we can look to having our 'safe six' our bubble again," she said.

"I will be continuously reviewing the data that we have to see if we can do it earlier," she continued."But I want people to start thinking:It's not going to be, 'Yay, we're out of this, we're back to normal.' It's going to be, 'Can we slowly and thoughtfully find an increase in those social connections that we all really want?'"

READ MORE:

• Volunteers with the Steveston Buddhist Templehave folded 1,000 paper cranes to help lift thespirits of health-care workers.
• Teams from the Canadian Red Cross are helping staff andresidents at five long-term care facilities in the Lower Mainland.
• A Vancouver man is out on strict bail conditions after being charged with violating public health orders by allegedly hosting dozens of people at a makeshift nightclub in his downtown penthouse.
• Developers of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine expect to have a modified jab to cope with the coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa by autumn.
• Ontario's first case of a highly transmissible COVID-19 variant that originated in Brazil was discovered in Toronto on Sunday.

What's happening elsewhere in Canada

As of 8:30p.m. Sunday,Canada had reported 804,260 cases of COVID-19, with 44,727cases considered active.

A total of 20,767people have died.

• Help CBC British Columbia tell your COVID-19 stories