Coronavirus outbreak: 170 people in B.C. died of overdoses in May amid COVID-19 pandemic
British Columbia’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix provided an update on the latest COVID-19 numbers in the province and the government’s response to the pandemic on Thursday.
During Thursday’s briefing, Dr. Henry also addressed the opioid crisis in B.C., and said 170 people in the province had died from overdoses in May as they battled the novel coronavirus.
Dr. Henry said the pandemic combined with the opioid crisis in the province has stretched resources to the limit.
She also said that a “dramatic increase in the toxicity of the street drug supply” in B.C. had in part led to the recent surge of deaths.
“It has been particularly hard in these last three months,” Henry said, adding that B.C. had been making progress in the opioid crisis prior to the pandemic.
The province announced 14 new cases of COVID-19 in British Columbia and no new deaths attributed to the virus. The total number of cases in the province is 2,694.
