What you need to know about COVID-19 in B.C. for Jan. 7

THE LATEST:

• Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has extended the ban on social gatherings until at least Feb. 5 at midnight.
• B.C. health officials announced 761 new cases of COVID-19 and eight more deaths on Thursday.
• There are 372 people in hospital, including 74 in intensive care. 
• There are currently 6,349 active cases in the province.
• As of Thursday, 41,064 people have received a COVID-19 vaccine dose in B.C.
• B.C. government announced it will provide COVID-19 data for individual long-term care homes.
• After a spike in COVID-19 cases, Cowichan Tribes, the largest First Nation in British Columbia, has issued a shelter in place order for its almost 5,000 members.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has extended COVID-19 restrictions, including a ban on social gatherings, until at least midnight, February 5, at a press conference Thursday. 

Under the restrictions, all in-person events and gatherings, including religious gatherings, musical performances and screenings at movie theatres are prohibited. 

Adult sports recreation leagues and high-intensity fitness classes are also banned.

Henry reported 761 new cases of COVID-19 and eight more deaths on Thursday. A total of 970 people in British Columbia have died of COVID-19.

The latest update also showed 41,064 people have received a vaccine dose in B.C. so far.

Residents of 18 remote First Nations communities are among the first people in the province to get the Moderna vaccine this week. As of Wednesday, more than 5,300 doses have been distributed to the rural and remote communities. Leaders said the delivery felt "surreal."

In the meantime, however, B.C.'s largest First Nations band, the Cowichan Tribes, issued a shelter in place order for its almost 5,000 members because of a spike in COVID-19 cases.

There have been 23 confirmed cases of the virus detected in Cowichan Tribes members since the beginning of the month.

Meanwhile, firefighters and teachers are hoping to be added to B.C.'s COVID-19 vaccination priority groups. Distribution of the vaccine has so far been limited to frontline workers, hospital patients, long-term care staff and residents and remote Indigenous communities.

On Thursday, the B.C. government announced a number of changes and improvements to its collection and release of data around the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it will once again release individual case and death counts at long-term care homes,

Three more seniors at Little Mountain Place care home in Vancouver have died of COVID-19. 

As of Wednesday, 99 of 114 residents at the care home have tested positive, 41 of whom have died since an outbreak was declared Nov. 22, a statement from Vancouver Coastal Health said.

It said 70 of the facility's staff have also tested positive.

READ MORE:

• Residents of 18 remote First Nations communities in B.C. are among the first people in the province to get the Moderna vaccine this week.
• Firefighters are among first responders not currently included in B.C.'s COVID-19 vaccination priority groups. The B.C. Firefighters Association (BCFA) wants that to change.
• A West Vancouver councillor said he recently went to California to visit his six-month-old granddaughter despite recommendations from provincial and federal authorities to avoid non-essential travel during the pandemic.
• The director of the University of British Columbia's School of Population and Public Health is apologizing for travelling over the holidays.
• Two Vancouver Island city councillors are among the latest Canadian politicians to admit they travelled outside of Canada over the holidays, despite federal and provincial guidelines against non-essential travel.

What's happening elsewhere in Canada

As of 3:45 p.m. PT on Thursday, Canada had recorded more than 635,134 cases of COVID-19 and 16,579 deaths.

The number of active cases stood at 80,289.

• Stay informed by joining our CBC Vancouver Facebook group on COVID-19 
• Help CBC British Columbia tell your COVID-19 stories