HEALTH Minister Adrian Dix and Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry on Friday announced 15 new COVID-19 cases, for a total of 2,407 cases in British Columbia.

Unfortunately, there were five new COVID-19 related deaths, four in the Fraser Health region and one in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, for a total of 140 deaths in British Columbia.

There are 359 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 1,908 people who tested positive have recovered.

Of the total COVID-19 cases, 51 individuals are hospitalized, 12 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.

Every health region in British Columbia has patients with COVID-19. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 878 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 1,164 in the Fraser Health region, 126 in the Island Health region, 181 in the Interior Health region and 58 in the Northern Health region.

There has been one new acute-care outbreak at the Abbotsford Regional Hospital. In total, 15 long-term care or assisted-living facilities and five acute-care units have active cases.

There has also been one new community outbreak with two confirmed cases at the Oppenheimer Group, a fruit and vegetable processing plant in Coquitlam. The public health investigation is ongoing, active contract tracing is underway and the plant remains open at this time.

Public health teams are also continuing to provide support for community outbreaks in the poultry sector, at the Mission Institution and with those connected to the Kearl Lake plant in Alberta.

Dix and Henry said: “We must continue to be measured and thoughtful with each step forward in our COVID-19 recovery. The new outbreaks demonstrate that there continues to be risk of COVID-19 in our communities.

“We want a strong start, and to do that we need to stay local, stay apart and stay 100% committed to working together.

“Our provincial parks are now open for day use. Spending the day in a nearby park is a great way to stay close to home this weekend and put our safe social interaction ‘rules’ into action.

“Today, education and child care guidance was also released to allow schools to once again begin in-class learning on June 1 and prepare for a full return in September.

“Our schools and daycares will look and feel different, but they will operate in the safest way possible for everyone – for staff, students and families.

“From the start of this pandemic, British Columbians have demonstrated incredible compassion and care for our health-care workers, seniors, Elders and our communities. The result has been the flattening of our curve. Let’s keep working through this together.”