B.C. reports 50 more COVID-19 deaths, 276 hospitalized

The latest figures on COVID-19 in British Columbia show 276 people are hospitalized with the illness, with 19 people in critical care.

In its weekly report, the BC Centre for Disease Control recorded 50 deaths linked to COVID-19 during the week ending June 11, down from 57 the week before.

This brings the death toll to 2,682 since the pandemic began.

Since April, B.C. has been reporting all deaths from any cause when the person died within 30 days of a positive COVID-19 test result, while the centre says it will do retrospective evaluations to better understand "true" COVID-19 mortality.

Thursday's weekly report says 189 people were admitted to hospital between June 5 and 11, downfrom 246 the week before, though the centre notes the numbers may increase as data is updated.

It says 726 new laboratory-confirmed cases were reported during that same week, down from 894, though current case counts do not include positive results from at-home rapid tests.