A Ministry of Health bulletin states that the weekly reports will focus on identifying significant changes in COVID-19 key metrics and trends over time. He also says that the death report is changed to count all deaths that occurred within 30 days of the individual’s positive laboratory test, regardless of whether the underlying cause of death was found to be associated with COVID-19. The change is the latest the province has made in its approach to pandemic management, which has claimed 3,004 lives to date.
“To be able to manage ourselves now”
On Friday, British Colombians will no longer need to display their vaccine passport cards from 12:01 a.m., while the mask order for most indoor public spaces was lifted on March 11.
Provincial Health Director Dr. Bonnie Henry said Thursday that the changes are not a sign that the pandemic is over, but that it is shifting to a phase where people should be able to manage the risks on their own.
He said most British Colombians have high levels of protection against serious diseases due to COVID-19 due to vaccination.
10:38 Dr. Bonnie Henry to abolish the vaccine card system
BC will abolish the mandatory vaccine card system this Friday. There will also be a fourth round of vaccine doses for elderly and immunocompromised British Colombians. For more on this, we reached out to the provincial health manager Dr. Bonnie Henry. 10:38
“This virus is still here and will be here for years and we need to manage it without having to take legal or draconian measures that also have a negative impact,” he said. “We are really able to manage ourselves now.”
Henry asks people to watch for symptoms, seek quick tests and stay home if you are sick until your symptoms subside.
11 deaths from March 27 to April 2
Until now, every time someone with a confirmed COVID-19 case died, their death was screened to determine if the cause was infection.
The ministry says the new, “broader definition” means that some deaths that are not actually caused by COVID-19 will be reported.
He says the reports will be posted on the BC Center for Disease Control (BCCDC) website on Thursdays with data ranging from last Sunday to Saturday.
“There is likely to be a one-off increase in the number of people who are ever hospitalized by switching to ‘wider administrative data,’” he said.
Weekly
• 1,706 new cases were reported, for a total of 357,242 cases in BC.• 193 hospitalizations, for a total of 19,897 BC.• 11 deaths, for a total of 3,002 BC.
Read more: pic.twitter.com/MjX0L0FwU5
– @ BCGovNews
Information on COVID-19 cases will be based on an individual’s first molecular or PCR examination through the province’s medical plan, the ministry said in a statement.
The first weekly report from March 27 to April 2 shows 11 people died, a measure of “mortality from any cause of 30 days”, while 193 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 and a total of 1,706 new cases were confirmed during that time. at a time.
By comparison, 13 deaths were reported from March 20 to March 26 and 20 deaths from March 13 to 19, according to the new reporting system.
From March 20 to March 26, there were 220 hospital admissions due to COVID-19.
The weekly report said the death toll from March 27 to April 2 was expected to rise as more data became available.
On Thursday, the BCCDC reported on the COVID-19 control panel that 324 people were being treated, four patients less than the previous day and 38 people in the ICU, an increase of one.
Sewage levels are rising, vaccinations are slowing down
Meanwhile, COVID-19 transmission levels detected in wastewater samples at four of Metro Vancouver’s five treatment plants increased, following a trend observed in the second half of March. Levels remained between 72 and 90 percent lower than those detected at the peak of the Omicron transmission recorded in January. The number of new vaccines being distributed is slowing, with the number of third vaccines being given rising by less than one per cent last week to a total of 53.76 per cent of eligible British Colombians receiving a third dose from 6 April. Earlier this week, the government announced it was distributing fourth installments to people aged 70 and over and other vulnerable groups.
