COVID-19 claimed three more lives in the Northern Health region on Tuesday, bringing the region’s death toll from the pandemic to 90.
Three of the four COVID-related deaths reported in the province on Tuesday were in the north, which continued to see a rising number of active cases, according to data released by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
“There have been four new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 1,263 deaths in British Columbia,” provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a joint statement issued on Tuesday. “We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost loved ones to COVID-19.”
The Northern Health region saw 37 new cases reported on Tuesday, bringing the number of active cases in the region to 444 up from 411 on Monday. There were 14 people hospitalized with COVID in the Northern Health region on Tuesday, including 10 in critical care, the B.C. CDC reported.
A total of 5,446 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the north, including 417 second doses, the B.C. CDC reported.
Across B.C., 435 new COVID cases were reported, bringing the province’s total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 71,387  including 3,849 in the north.
“There are 4,393 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. There are 241 individuals currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 68 of whom are in intensive care,” Henry and Dix said. “To date, 155,585 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C., 12,802 of which are second doses. We are making progress in our efforts to push back on the COVID-19 virus and get to the days of fewer restrictions in our province. We can keep this positive, forward momentum going and help keep our province safe through the small efforts we make every day.”
On Monday, Northern Health declared a COVID-19 outbreak in the Medical Inpatient Unit at Dawson Creek & District Hospital, after nine patients tested positive.
Northern Health is actively testing to determine if any other staff or patients were exposed, and putting additional safety measures in place.