COVID-19 update: B.C. reports 5 deaths, drop in hospitalizations as several restrictions lifted

The B.C. government announced five new deaths related to COVID-19 on Thursday, hours after lifting several pandemic-related public health restrictions.

The B.C. government announced five new deaths related to COVID-19 on Thursday, hours after lifting several pandemic-related public health restrictions.

The province's seven-day average for coronavirus-related deaths has been trending downward since reaching a 13-month high of 13 per day last week. The latest update from the Ministry of Health left the average at 7.4 per day.

The number of test-positive patients in hospital also decreased once again, reaching a four-week low of 744. That total includes both patients suffering from severe COVID-19 illness and those who tested positive incidentally after being admitted to hospital for reasons unrelated to the disease.

The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care decreased by one, to 120.

Three of the latest coronavirus-related deaths were reported by Vancouver Coastal Health, and the other two were by Northern Health.

The provincial COVID-19 death toll now stands at 2,781, after one previously reported death was "removed from the total due to a data correction," the ministry said in a statement.

Officials have also declared three new outbreaks in health-care facilities, at Burnaby Hospital, Mountainview Village and Three Links Manor. Seven others have ended, leaving 32 active outbreaks across the health-care system, most in long-term care homes.