B.C. adds 593 cases of COVID-19, no deaths as new vaccine requirement announced

British Columbia has recorded another 593 cases of COVID-19 but no related deaths, the government said Tuesday after officials announced a new vaccine requirement for visitors in health-care settings.

British Columbia has recorded another 593 cases of COVID-19 but no related deaths, the government said Tuesday after officials announced a new vaccine requirement for visitors in health-care settings.

The latest numbers, provided in a written statement from the Ministry of Health, put the province's seven-day average for new infections at 694 per day, down from 702 on Monday.

The seven-day average for coronavirus-related deaths, which hit a seven-month high of 7.29 last week, dropped to 5.86 per day. The last time B.C. went 24 hours without a COVID-19 fatality was several weeks ago, on Sept. 8.

The number of infectious coronavirus patients in hospital increased to 345, up from 326 on Monday, with 144 of those in intensive care. The province only updates the number of people who remain hospitalized due to COVID-19 but are no longer infectious once per week.

The unvaccinated continue to make up the majority of B.C.'s case and hospitalization numbers, according to the ministry, despite representing a relatively small and shrinking percentage of the population.

Between Sept. 27 and Oct. 3, people who haven't received a single dose of vaccine were infected at a rate of 297.3 per 100,000 population after adjusting for age, compared to 35.1 per 100,000 population among the fully vaccinated.

Similarly, between Sept. 20 and Oct. 3, the unvaccinated were hospitalized at a rate of 36.7 per 100,000 population after adjusting for age, compared to 1.7 per 100,000 population among the fully vaccinated.