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British Columbia has reported no new deaths from COVID-19, as hospitalization numbers maintained their steady downward trend Friday.

It is the first time since March 26 that B.C. has gone without a fatality from the coronavirus.

Data released by health officials showed 119 people in hospital with the disease, down one from Thursday.

There were 52 people in intensive care, down four from Thursday and the lowest number since March 28.

The total number of people in B.C. hospitals peaked at 149 on April 2, while ICU patients peaked on April 6 at 72.

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B.C. reported 43 new lab-confirmed cases of the virus Friday, for a total of 1,618 in the province.

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Of those cases, 966 have fully recovered.

Earlier Friday, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said there were encouraging signs B.C. was “flattening the curve” of infection, noting that the number of new cases has continued to decline despite an increase in daily testing.

She pointed to Vancouver Coastal Health as an example, where zero new cases were reported in a 24-hour period on Thursday.

“There [were] no new positive cases, despite a number of tests, hundreds of tests being done in Vancouver Coastal,” she said.

“So that is a true reflection of the fact that we are seeing less illness in our community right now.”

Henry said the province was looking at possibly reopening the health care system and resuming scheduled surgeries in mid-May, but that many barriers remained.

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