B.C. health officer asks residents to change holiday plans if feeling unwell

Published December 24, 2021 at 2:08 pm

VICTORIA — British Columbia has hit its COVID-19 testing capacity as the provincial health officer asked residents to not get tested unless they have symptoms.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says the province administered 20,000 COVID-19 PCR tests on Thursday.

She says if someone develops symptoms then they need to adjust holiday plans and self-isolate.

As a result of hitting the testing capacity, Henry says health staff are prioritizing those most at risk and giving take-home antigen tests to younger people at less risk.

She says B.C. is in a “different pandemic” as a result of the Omicron variant.

Health Minister Adrian Dix says the province expects to give out 147,371 vaccinations from Dec. 22 to Jan. 2.