It's not looking good. For a second consecutive day, B.C.’s new case count has remained above the 1,200 mark.

In other case categories, numbers either increased or remained similar to yesterday.

Meanwhile, the B.C. immunization program has passed a major milestone.

Today, people who are 65 years old and above, Indigenous peoples 18 and above, and individuals who received a clinical vulnerability letter can register for their vaccine (Vancouver Coastal Health began doing so yesterday).

In health violation news, Surrey RCMP arrested and fined a male suspect (who hadn't been wearing a mask) for spitting in the face of a security guard at Guildford shopping mall. 

B.C. update: April 9

B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix announced in a joint statement that there are 1,262 new cases in B.C. today. That's not far off from yesterday's record-setting 1,293 new cases.

The total includes (by region):

• 638 new cases in Fraser Health;
• 358 in Vancouver Coastal Health;
• 132 in Interior Health;
• 79 in Northern Health;
• 54 in Island Health;
• one person from outside of Canada.

Currently, there are 9,574 active cases, which is 390 more cases than yesterday.

Hospitalized cases decreased by four patients. There are 332 individuals in hospitals today, and 102 in intensive care units (one more than yesterday).

Public health is monitoring 15,673 people, which is 470 more people than yesterday.

Unfortunately, Henry and Dix announced that there are two new COVID-19-related deaths. The total number of fatalities during the pandemic is now at 1,495 people who have died in British Columbia.

A cumulative total of 98,336 people have now recovered, which includes 874 recoveries since yesterday.

The cumulative number of cases that B.C. has recorded during the pandemic is now at a total of 109,540 cases. That includes, by region:

• 62,447 cases in Fraser Health;
• 27,303 in Vancouver Coastal Health;
• 9.295 in Interior Health;
• 6,442 in Northern Health;
• 3,872 in Island Health;
• 181 people from outside of Canada.

Variants and vaccinations

Yesterday, Henry explained changes to the provincial variant strategy. (For details, see this article.)

So far there have been 4,111 variant cases. Of those, 105 are active cases.

The total includes:

• 3,082 cases of the B117 (U.K.) variant;
• 974 cases of the P1 (Brazil) variant;
• 55 cases of the B1351 (South Africa) variant.

In B.C. immunization program, over one million doses (1,025,019) of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca-SII vaccines have now been administered in B.C. Of those, 87,606 were second doses.

Outbreaks and exposures

Today, Fraser Health announced that it has declared an outbreak at the Sunset Manor assisted-living facility in Chilliwack, where three residents and four staff members tested positive.

Meanwhile, Fraser Health also announced today that the outbreak at Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody.

Northern Health provided updates today on two ongoing healtcare outbreaks.

At the outbreak in the Patient Care Unit at Prince Rupert Regional Hospital (declared on March 28), Northern Health stated that there have been three patients and one staff member who have tested positive so far.

At Acropolis Manor, where Northern Health declared an outbreak in the West Pod of the long-term care facility on April 3, five residents have tested positive as of today.

Once again, there haven’t been any new community outbreaks declared and none of the five regional health authorities posted any new public exposure events.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) added the following 15 flights to its lists of public exposures:

• March 28: Air Canada 225, Calgary to Vancouver;
• March 28: Air Canada/Jazz 8079, Vancouver to Victoria;
• March 29: WestJet 115, Calgary to Vancouver;
• April 1: Air Canada 212, Vancouver to Calgary;
• April 1: Air Canada/Jazz 8064, Victoria to Vancouver;
• April 2: Air Canada 116, Vancouver to Toronto;
• April 2: WestJet 141, Edmonton to Vancouver;
• April 3: Air Canada 246, Vancouver to Edmonton;
• April 3: Air Canada 306, Vancouver to Montreal;
• April 3: Harbour Air 1123, Vancouver to Nanaimo;
• April 4: Air Canada 127, Toronto to Vancouver;
• April 4: Harbour Air 1150, Nanaimo to Vancouver;
• April 4: WestJet 171, Edmonton to Vancouver;
• April 5: Air Canada 306, Vancouver to Montreal;
• April 5: WestJet 126, Vancouver to Calgary.

Affected row information is listed at the BCCDC website.

T&T Supermarket listed its Central City store (3000–10153 King George Boulevard) in Surrey as having a part-time employee who tested positive and last worked on April 2.

Sobeys added Safeway at 6564 East Hastings Street in Burnaby as having a staff member, who last worked there on April 1, who tested positive.

Loblaw listed three stores that had staff members who tested positive.

One was Dean's No Frills at 4508 Fraser Street in Vancouver, where an employee who tested positive last worked on March 28.

In Coquitlam, an employee who tested positive last worked on April 1 at Dennis' No Frills at 100–1960 Como Lake Avenue.

One employee who tested positive last worked on April 3 at the Real Canadian Superstore located at 5001 Anderson Way in Vernon.