COVID-19 update for March 30: Here’s the latest on coronavirus in B.C.

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Here’s your daily update with everything you need to know on the novel coronavirus situation in B.C. for March 30, 2021.

We’ll provide summaries of what’s going on in B.C. right here so you can get the latest news at a glance. This page will be updated regularly throughout the day, with developments added as they happen.

Check back here for more updates throughout the day. You can also get the latest COVID-19 news delivered to your inbox weeknights at 7 p.m. by subscribing to our newsletter here.

B.C.’S COVID-19 CASE NUMBERS

As of the latest figures given on March 29:

• Total number of confirmed cases: 99,035 (7,062 active)
• New cases since March 29: 840
• Total deaths: 1,455 (0 new)
• Hospitalized cases: 312
• Intensive care: 78
• Total vaccinations: 724,193 people have received one of the three approved vaccines, including 87,319 who have received a second dose.
• Cases under public health monitoring: 11,164
• Recovered: 90,401
• Long-term care and assisted-living homes, and acute care facilities currently affected: 12

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IN-DEPTH:COVID-19: Here are all the B.C. cases of the novel coronavirus

B.C. GUIDES AND LINKS

• COVID-19: Here’s everything you need to know about the novel coronavirus

• COVID-19 FAQ: What you need to know about the vaccine rollout in B.C.

• COVID-19: Have you been exposed? Here are all B.C. public health alerts

• COVID-19 at B.C. schools: Here are the school district exposure alerts

• COVID-19: Avoid these hand sanitizers that are recalled in Canada

• COVID-19: Here’s where to get tested in Metro Vancouver

• B.C. COVID-19 Symptom Self-Assessment Tool

LATEST NEWS ON COVID-19 IN B.C.

4 p.m. – 840 new cases, no additional COVID-19 related deaths

B.C. reported 840 new cases, including 18 epidemiologically-linked cases, on Tuesday. There were no new deaths.

There are 7,062 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, including 312 people in hospital, 78 of whom are in intensive care.

There have been 320 new confirmed cases involving variants of concern.

3:50 p.m. – B.C. is now offering a COVID-19 vaccine to Lower Mainland residents age 55 to 65

B.C. is now offering a COVID-19 vaccine to Lower Mainland residents age 55 to 65.

Starting Wednesday, March 31, eligible residents can call their local pharmacy to make an appointment to get their AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD vaccine.

About 150 pharmacies are participating in this partnership with Immunize B.C. Drop-in service may also be an option, said the health ministry in a statement issued Tuesday.

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The provincial government is targeting this cohort to try to stem the high number of COVID-19 cases in the Lower Mainland.

On Tuesday, B.C. reported 840 new cases. The majority of these were in the Fraser Health region (421) and Vancouver Coastal Health region (265).

— Cheryl Chan

3:30 p.m. – Fraser Health’s online vaccination booking site goes offline 12 hours per day

Fraser Health’s online vaccination booking system — the only one in B.C. so far — will be going offline during daytime hours until next Tuesday.

The health authority said the website is going through maintenance as it prepares to transition to the provincial online booking and registration system set to launch on April 6.

Starting today, eligible people who live in the Fraser Health region who want to book their appointment will have to call the immunization booking phone line at 1-855-755-2455 if it’s between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

The online system will be available from 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.

— Cheryl Chan

3:30 p.m. – Whistler reports increase in COVID-19 cases

Vancouver Coastal Health reported 218 new cases of COVID-19 in Whistler from March 22 to March 28. Last week’s tally brings up the total number of cases recorded in the resort community this year to 1,120.

About 83 per cent of cases is identified in people age 20 to 39, mostly among young adults who live and work in Whistler. The most common sites for transmission are household settings and social gatherings.

3:30 p.m. – Potential COVID-19 exposure at Calgary vaccination site

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Alberta Health Services says there is a small chance 49 members of the public may have been exposed to COVID-19 at a Calgary vaccination site last week.

A health-care worker who was staffing the South Calgary Health Centre site between 8 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. on March 23 and between 8 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on March 25 later tested positive for the virus.

The health agency said Tuesday that only those contacted directly should be tested as a precaution.

“Risk of exposure is believed to be low due to the continuous and correct use of (personal protective equipment) at the site, as well as the strict COVID-19 safety protocols in place,” Alberta Health Services said in a statement.

“However, out of an abundance of caution, we are contacting 49 members of the public, who attended the site for their appointments on the dates and during the time frames outlined above, to be tested for COVID-19.”

Meanwhile, Alberta reported 576 new COVID-19 infections and four additional deaths in Tuesday’s update.

– The Canadian Press

1:30 p.m. – Canucks’ Gaudette tests positive for COVID-19, removed from practice

Vancouver Canucks forward Adam Gaudette has tested positive for COVID-19.

Gaudette participated in practice Tuesday on a line with J.T. Miller and Jimmy Vesey —  Jake Virtanen was missing with an illness — and then left the ice once notified of the COVID-19 test result.

“Adam had a positive test come in this morning and left the ice, and we’re following NHL protocol,” said Canucks coach Travis Green. “Our players get tested every day; they were tested this morning and we’ll see what they say when they come back.”

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How Gaudette was allowed to participate in practice is of great concern. He would have had interaction with teammates in the arena gym, locker room, players’ bench and the ice.

– Ben Kuzma

11:45 a.m. – Fraser Health’s online vaccination booking website down

People trying to schedule a vaccination appointment using Fraser Health’s online booking tool are out of luck right now.

The health authority put out a statement Tuesday saying that its booking website has been taken offline for maintenance in preparation for the transition to a province-wide online booking and registration tool that is set to launch April 6.

Fraser Health says the online tool will be back online at 7 p.m.

In the meantime, vaccination appointments, for those eligible, can be made by phoning Fraser Health’s booking line at 1-855-755-2455.

The vaccines are being administered by age in five-year increments and bookings are available this week to: anyone born in 1948 or earlier; Indigenous people born in 1966; and anyone 16 and older who have deemed clinically extremely vulnerable.

As well, those aged 70 (born in 1951) living on Sunshine Coast, Powell River, Whistler, Squamish, Pemberton and Bowen Island can also book appointments through Vancouver Coastal Health this week.

Here is the contact list of regional health authority call centres:
• Fraser Health: 1-855-755-2455
(Fraser Health also has online booking: Fraserhealth.ca/vaccinebookinginfo)
• Vancouver Coastal Health: 1-877-587-5767
• Interior Health: 1-877-740-7747
• Island Health: 1-833-348-4787
• Northern Health: 1-844-255-7555

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The call centres will ask for:
• Legal name;
• date of birth;
• postal code;
• personal health number (PHN) from the back of B.C. driver’s licences or B.C. services cards;
• current contact information, including an email address or phone number to receive texts.

10 a.m. – Pfizer sending five million doses to Canada in June

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canadians just need to hold on “a little longer” as he promises even more vaccine doses will arrive this spring.

Pfizer is going to send five million more vaccine doses to Canada in June than it previously planned, and AstraZeneca will ship 4.4 million doses by the end of June.

That news however comes as concern about the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots has pushed all provinces to stop using it for people under age 55 pending further analysis.

Trudeau says while the end of the pandemic is nearing, and vaccines are going to start flowing faster, variants are adding to the risk and Canadians cannot yet throw caution aside.

COVID-19 is spreading faster in many parts of the country, driven by variants of the virus that are not only more contagious but are making people sicker.

Dr. Theresa Tam says hospitalizations are up six per cent in the last week and the number of patients needing critical care is up 14 per cent.

– Canadian Press

8 a.m. – Unifor calls on B.C. government to give workers paid time off to receive vaccine

Unifor is urging the provincial government to follow Saskatchewan’s lead and give workers paid time off to receive the vaccine.

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Union president Jerry Dias calls the idea a no-brainer.

“If you want to maximize vaccinations and minimize disruption to British Columbians, workers need paid time off to be vaccinated,” he said, in a statement Tuesday.

“No worker should choose between the vaccine and their pay cheque.”

Provincially mandated paid time off for vaccination would require legislation. Unifor is also calling for a permanent provincial paid sick leave policy.

5 a.m. – B.C. brings in more COVID-19 restrictions

On Monday afternoon provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry — backed by Premier John Horgan and Health Minister Adrian Dix — tightened COVID-19 restrictions.

She said the move was due to an exponential growth in B.C.’s average COVID-19 daily case count and active variant cases, and fear of those cases overwhelming the health care system.

Henry said indoor dining at all food and liquor-serving premises was suspended for three weeks. Businesses with patios and kitchens — mostly restaurants — can stay open for full-meal service on those patios or for takeout and delivery.

She also tightened mask-wearing policy in schools on Monday.

Effective Tuesday, all students in K-3 will be “strongly encouraged to wear masks” and those in Grades 4-12 will be mandated to wear a mask in class and public areas. All teachers must also now wear masks.

Premier Horgan likely ticked off a whole demographic of British Columbians on Monday by placing a lions-share of the blame for the latest COVID-19 crackdowns on those aged 20-39 (many of whom are employed in the hard-hit tourism and hospitality sectors.)

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“I know that people that tune in regularly to see Dr. Henry and Minister Dix are following the rules,” Horgan said. “They are paying attention to the details and focusing on making sure that they do their part to get British Columbia through this.”

However, Horgan said the 20 to 39 cohort were not paying as much attention to Henry’s broadcasts and, “quite frankly, are putting the rest of us in a challenging situation.”

-David Carrigg

5 a.m. – Health Canada asks Oxford AstraZeneca for more vaccine info

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12 a.m. – Whistler Blackcomb ski resort shuttered for three weeks as B.C. imposes further COVID-19 restrictions

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has closed the Whistler Blackcomb ski resort after a spike in cases of COVID-19 among young people – including a cluster of the P1 variant of concern that is proven to be lead to worse infection in young people.

Henry said there had been a COVID-19 outbreak in Whistler over the Christmas break that had been brought under control. However, there has been a big jump in cases over the past few days and cases of people returning to Metro Vancouver from Whistler having contracted the disease there.

Henry has also banned indoor dining, group gym activities and indoor faith services over the next three weeks as case counts accelerate.

12 a.m. – Number of COVID-19 cases spike, six more deaths

On Monday, B.C. reported 2,518 cases of COVID-19 on the weekend and six deaths.

Of those cases, 329 were variants of concern. There are three variants circulating in B.C. The most common B117 variant is now proven to lead to worse infection in young people, as well as being more contagious.

The second most common P1 variant in B.C. is also more contagious and proven to be more resistant to COVID-19 vaccines than the initial form of the virus.

Of the 2,233 cases of COVID-19 variants in B.C. 1,915 are B117 and 270 are P1 and 48 are the South African variant.

Henry said that indoor dining would be paused, while patio dining was permitted. Group fitness activities are also paused, while one on one fitness activities were allowed.

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B.C. VACCINE TRACKER

LOCAL RESOURCES for COVID-19 information

Here are a number of information and landing pages for COVID-19 from various health and government agencies.

• B.C. COVID-19 Symptom Self-Assessment Tool

• Vancouver Coastal Health – Information on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

• HealthLink B.C. – Coronavirus (COVID-19) information page

• B.C. Centre for Disease Control – Novel coronavirus (COVID-19)

• Government of Canada – Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Outbreak update

• World Health Organization – Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak

– With files from The Canadian Press