The number of patients with COVID-19 in BC hospitals reached a nine-week low, as the govt prepares to begin administering the first approved variant-targeting vaccine.

There were 306 coronavirus-positive patients hospitalized across the province as of Thursday, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control – the lowest total since June 30, when there were 273.

The total, which is released once per week on Thursdays, includes both patients who are hospitalized because of a serious COVID-19 infection and those who are admitted for other reasons and test positive incidentally.

The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units also decreased to 25, a drop of four from last Thursday.

Coronavirus deaths have been harder to track since the province moved to a “30-day, all-cause mortality” reporting system back in April, which means every person who died within 30 days of testing positive for COVID-19 is included in the weekly total. Vital Statistics then works to determine whether the coronavirus was their underlying cause of death, a process that can take eight weeks.