While daily COVID-19 case count and hospitalization is on the wane, deaths have continued at a worrying pace. There were eight new deaths on Friday with over 300 cases. There are 484 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 and 69 are in intensive care.

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

VICTORIA – While daily COVID-19 case count and hospitalization is on the wane, deaths have continued at a worrying pace. There were eight new deaths on Friday with over 300 cases.

As of Friday, March 4, 90.7% (4,518,800) of eligible people five and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 86.4% (4,305,507) have received their second dose.

In addition, 93.3% (4,324,618) of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 90.8% (4,207,603) have received their second dose, and 56.0% (2,594,873) have received a third dose.

Also, 93.6% (4,050,202) of all eligible adults in B.C. have received their first dose, 91.2% (3,944,763) received their second dose, and 58.0% (2,506,597) have received a third dose.

B.C. is reporting 340 new cases of COVID-19, including one epi-linked case, for a total of 349,944 cases in the province.

The new cases include:

* Fraser Health: 71

* Vancouver Coastal Health: 41

* Interior Health: 113

* Northern Health: 50

* Island Health: 65

* People who reside outside of Canada: zero

There are 484 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 and 69 are in intensive care.

In the past 24 hours, eight new deaths have been reported, for an overall total of 2,903.

The new deaths include:

* Fraser Health: two

* Vancouver Coastal Health: one

* Interior Health: one

* Island Health: four

Note: One reported death has been removed from the total due to a data correction.

There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks. The outbreak at Polson Long Term Care (Interior Health) has been declared over, for a total of 20 facilities with ongoing outbreaks, including:

* long-term care:
* Menno Home, Cascade Gardens Seniors Community (Fraser Health)

* Ponderosa, Overlander Residential Care, Three Links Manor, Hillside Village, Mission Creek Landing, Williams Lake Seniors Village, Sun Pointe Village, Gillis House (Interior Health)

* Sidney Care Home, Amica on the Gorge, Selkirk Seniors Village, Nanaimo Seniors Village, Berwick House Gordon Head, The Heights at Mt. View, Greenwoods and Parkwood Court (Island Health)

* acute care:
* Mission Memorial Hospital (Fraser Health)

* assisted or independent living:
* Fischer Place (Interior Health)

From Feb. 24 to March 2, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 19.2% of cases and from Feb. 17 to March 2, they accounted for 33.1% of hospitalizations.

Past week cases (Feb. 24 to March 2) - Total 2,769

* Not vaccinated: 444 (16.0%)

* Partially vaccinated: 89 (3.2%)

* Fully vaccinated: 2,236 (80.8%)

Past two weeks cases hospitalized (Feb. 17 to March 2) - Total 420

* Not vaccinated: 118 (28.1%)

* Partially vaccinated: 21 (5.0%)

* Fully vaccinated: 281 (66.9%)

Past week, cases per 100,000 population after adjusting for age (Feb. 24 to March 2)

* Not vaccinated: 109.3

* Partially vaccinated: 52.0

* Fully vaccinated: 49.3

Past two weeks, cases hospitalized per 100,000 population after adjusting for age (Feb. 17 to March 2)

* Not vaccinated: 30.2

* Partially vaccinated: 18.6

* Fully vaccinated: 6.0

Since December 2020, the Province has administered 11,361,559 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Pfizer Pediatric COVID-19 vaccines.