COVID-19 outbreak at Surrey Pretrial; 500 new cases, 14 deaths in B.C.

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre as the province reports another 500 infections in B.C.

“Outbreak protocols are in place [at Surrey Pretrial], and public health teams from Fraser Health are contact tracing and supporting BC Corrections,” reads a joint statement from Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix.

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While health officials note the virus curve is bending in the right direction, another 14 people have lost their lives to the virus, for a total of 1,104 deaths since the pandemic began.

So far, 98,125 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been delivered to British Columbians, however, Henry and Dix urge everyone to continue following health orders.

“Our COVID-19 curve is trending in the right direction, and we want to keep that going – to push our curve down, which in turn, will allow us to safely ease restrictions.

BC's #covid19 update Jan 20
Avg deaths/day in January now above 10
New cases still high (@islandhealth with one of the worst days of the pandemic – the worst a week ago. @Fraserhealth has only dipped below 200 twice in past month)
Hosp, active cases going down#bcpoli @NEWS1130 https://t.co/lYlMR0J0ZW pic.twitter.com/bBKFhf9zz2

— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) January 20, 2021

In addition to the outbreak at Surrey Pretrial, there are outbreaks at Villa Cathay in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and at the Acropolis Manor in the Northern Health.

The outbreaks are over at Guildford Seniors Village, Maple Ridge Seniors Village, Mountainview Village, and Village by the Station.

There are 320 people in hospital with the virus, fewer than the day before. Sixty-six of them are in critical care.

Of the 62,412 confirmed cases of the virus in B.C., 55,564 people have recovered.