Another 358 cases of COVID-19 were reported in British Columbia on Tuesday as the province identified its first case of the Omicron variant.
Of the new cases, 107 were in the Fraser Health region, 53 cases were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 85 were in the Interior Health region, 57 were in Island Health, and 56 were in Northern Health.
No new deaths were recorded, leaving the province’s COVID-19 death toll at 2,333.
Three hundred people are in hospital with the disease, three fewer than Monday. Of those patients, 104 are in intensive care, a decrease of 11.
A total of 218,426 have been recorded in B.C. since the start of the pandemic, of which 2,889 are active.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Tuesday that the province’s first case of the Omicron variant involves a person from the Fraser Health region who recently returned from Nigeria.
Henry said 204 people who recently returned from parts of southern African with outbreaks of the variant are undergoing testing while in quarantine.
The Omicron variant has also been found in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta.
— With files from The Canadian Press