Abbotsford – In her Monday briefing, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the province recorded 81 new COVID-19 cases over the past three days, including 15 in an outbreak at the Fraser Valley Packers blueberry plant in Abbotsford.
Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, issued the following joint statement regarding updates on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) response in British Columbia:
“Today, we are providing case updates for three 24-hour reporting periods. In the first reporting period, from July 24 to July 25, we had 36 new cases. From July 25 to July 26, we had 21 new cases. In the last 24 hours, we have had a further 24 new cases.
“This represents 81 new cases, including seven epi-linked cases since we reported on Friday, for a total of 3,500 cases in British Columbia.
“There are 264 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 3,043 people who tested positive have recovered.
“Of the total COVID-19 cases, 11 people are hospitalized, three of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.
“Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 1,064 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 1,800 in the Fraser Health region, 143 in the Island Health region, 353 in the Interior Health region, 80 in the Northern Health region and 60 cases of people who reside outside of Canada.
“There have been two new COVID-19 related deaths in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, for a total of 193 deaths in British Columbia. We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks. In total, one long-term care facility and two acute-care facilities have active outbreaks.
“Fraser Health has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at Fraser Valley Packers Inc., a fruit packing plant in Abbotsford, after 15 staff working at the facility tested positive for COVID-19. Public-health teams are on site to investigate and case and contact management is ongoing. Those identified as cases and close contacts have been instructed to self-isolate.
From Fraser Heath – Fraser Health Public Health has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at Fraser Valley Packers Inc., a blueberry packing plant located at 260 Short Road in Abbotsford, after staff working at the facility tested positive for COVID-19.
To date, 15 employees of the facility have tested positive for COVID-19. Fraser Health Public Health is screening all employees at the facility, and case and contact management is ongoing. Those identified as cases and close contacts have been instructed to self-isolate.
Fraser Valley Packers Inc. is currently operating at a reduced capacity. The site has been inspected by Fraser Health and we are continuing to work with the facility to strengthen their COVID-19 mitigation strategies.
Fraser Health Public Health first became aware of a potential outbreak after receiving a positive lab test on Thursday, July 23, from an employee of the plant.
For more information about COVID-19, please visit fraserhealth.ca/covid19.
