B.C. records 324 new cases of COVID-19 and 1 more death

B.C. health officials announced 324 new cases of COVID-19 and one more deathon Tuesday.

In a written statement, the provincial government said there are currently 3,047active cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus in B.C.

A total of 345people are in hospital, with115in intensive care.

Overall hospitalizations, which typically lag behind spikes and dips in new cases, are down by 8.2per cent from last Tuesday, when 376people were in hospital with the disease.

The number of patients in intensive care is upby about 7.5 per cent from 107 a week ago

The provincialdeath toll from COVID-19is now 2,304 lives lost out of 216,012 confirmed cases to date.

The regional breakdown of new cases is as follows:

• 102 new cases in Fraser Health, which has 1,115 total active cases.
• 77 new cases in Interior Health, which has 595total active cases.
• 60 new cases in Northern Health, which has 444total active cases.
• 38 new cases in Vancouver Coastal Health, which has 472total active cases.
• 36 new cases in Island Health, which has 415total active cases.

There are a total of 12 active outbreaks in assisted living and long-termand acute care.

Acute care outbreaksinclude:

• Abbotsford Regional Hospital (Fraser Health).
• Ridge Meadows Hospital (Fraser Health).
• Royal Inland Hospital (Interior Health).

There is also a COVID-19 outbreak at St. Ann's School in Quesnel in the Northern Health region.To date, 27 cases of COVID-19 among staff and students are associated with the outbreak.The school voluntarily closed on Nov.10, 2021, and will remain closed.

As of Tuesday, 90.9per cent of those 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of aCOVID-19 vaccineand87.4 per cent asecond dose.

From Nov. 15 to 21, people who were not fully vaccinated accounted for 58.4 per cent of cases and from Nov. 8 to 21,they accounted for 69.0 per cent of hospitalizations, according to the province.

Since December 2020, 8.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered, including four million second doses.

COVID-19 vaccine for children to start next week

B.C. officials say vaccinations for children five to 11 years old will start the week of Nov. 29.

"We believe we'll have capacity between nowand Christmas to vaccinate a good number of these children,"said Dr. Penny Ballem, the executive lead of B.C.'s immunization rollout team.

"This is a major step forward now in continuing on the journey of getting our communities back to as close to normal as we'll be following the pandemic."

Last Friday, Health Canada approved the use ofPfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for children in that age group.

According to Health Minister Adrian Dix, the province will have enough vaccine for every child. He is urging families to register their children for a vaccination appointment.