There are now 970 cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in B.C., after health officials announced 86 new cases Monday.
There were 16 cases recorded on March 29 and 70 cases on March 30.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry reports that there are 472 cases in Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), 323 in Fraser Health, 67 on Vancouver Island, 94 in Interior Health and 14 in Northern Health.
There are now 13 long-term care homes that have had a patient or staff person test positive.
There are currently 106 people in acute care in hospital, and 60 are in intensive care. There have been two more deaths, one of which is the first outside of a long-term care facility.
There have now been 19 deaths in the province.
469 people (48 per cent of cases) have fully recovered from COVID-19 in B.C.; over 70 of these people were in hospital.
Henry notes that this means that most people, particularly who are young and have mild illness, are recovering from this virus at home. However, she underscored that we are not past the peak of the pandemic.
Henry also remarks that it will be back to school for children, except via virtual tools. She cited a number of online resources for families to utilize during the pandemic.
Health Minister Adrian Dix added that ambulance/paramedics responded to 320 calls Sunday.
"The average wait time for 8-1-1 calls, yesterday, was 1.3 minutes, which was a reflection of the extraordinary work they're doing," said dix.
During last Monday's briefing, Henry stated that the province is moving the focus on testing to identifying cases where the source is unknown, such as in community spread. For anyone who comes into the country and falls ill, Henry recommends that they stay home rather than risk infecting someone else. Of course, if their symptoms are severe they should still seek medical attention.
"We know the source of infection for anyone coming from outside of Canada," notes Henry. "We assume they have the virus and ask them to self-isolate for 14 days."
"We don't need them to come in for testing."
Henry also reinforced the importance of social distancing while still remaining relationships via technology.
Last week, Henry noted that people should consult the new online assesment tool if they aren't sure if they require further testing or assessment for COVID-19. She also underscored the importance of physical distancing, hand washing, covering your mouth if you cough, not touching your face and staying home if you are sick.
