COVID-19 update: B.C. reports 17 deaths over 72 hours, another drop in hospitalizations

British Columbia recorded another 17 deaths related to COVID-19 over the weekend, as the number of test-positive patients in hospital continued to decline.

British Columbia recorded another 17 deaths related to COVID-19 over the weekend, as the number of test-positive patients in hospital continued to decline.

The latest fatalities pushed the province's seven-day average for COVID-19 deaths down to about eight per day – a significant drop from last Monday, when it reached a 13-month high of 13 per day.

The average still remains much higher than it was at the beginning of 2022, when it spent more than a week hovering around a single death per day.

More than half of the weekend's fatalities came from the Interior Health region, which reported nine deaths related to the disease. Vancouver Coastal Health reported three COVID-19 deaths, Northern Health and Island Health each reported two, and Fraser Health reported one.

Meanwhile, the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 fell to 803 on Monday, a drop of 43 from last week, according to the Ministry of Health. That total includes patients whose coronavirus infection is serious enough to require hospitalization, as well as those who tested positive incidentally after being admitted for other reasons.

The number of patients in intensive care also dropped to 119, down from 136 on Friday.

B.C.'s data continues to show being vaccinated against COVID-19 reduces the risk of catching the disease, and of ending up in hospital as a result.