B.C. reports 17 deaths and nearly 2,500 new cases of COVID-19 over three days

British Columbia's top doctor says the province has confirmed that COVID-19 was a factor in the death of an infant from the Interior Health region.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the baby was being treated in hospital in January and the B.C. Coroners' Service has since determined COVID-19 was a factor in the baby's death.

Dr. Henry reported the death while addressing concerns raised in Ontario that people are dying at home of COVID-19, saying the coroners' service in B.C. has a process in place to investigate whether the illness was a factor in any unexpected deaths.

She says the service has conducted several hundred of those investigations since the start of the pandemic and found COVID-19 was a factor in a ``very small'' number of deaths.

Seventeen more people died over the three-day reporting period, pushing the death toll in B.C. to 1,571.

B.C. recorded 2,491 new cases of COVID-19 since Friday and 484 people are hospitalized with the illness, including 158 in intensive care.