New COVID-19 case numbers in B.C. continued to remain at an elevated level over the weekend, with the number of new infections reported for each of the last three days all surpassing 800.
According to provincial data, new case numbers actually spiked to 911 cases on Friday, followed by 832 cases on Saturday and 807 cases on Sunday. This was after Thursday’s figure reached 789 — the highest such number since Sept. 29.
With the new numbers, active COVID cases in B.C. have now reached 5,435, with 185 people hospitalized with the disease and 77 in intensive care.
Vancouver Coastal Health continues to lead the rate of new infections, with 909 new cases over the last three days. That is followed by Fraser Health (877), Island Health (415), Interior Health (268) and Northern Health (81).
The last three days also saw three more COVID-19 deaths in the province, bringing the total death toll since the start of the pandemic to 2,402. The three deaths were recorded in the Fraser, Northern and Island Health regions.
Provincial health officer Bonnie Henry launched renewed restrictions around the holidays starting today, restricting the number of people allowed at gatherings and events. The announcement coincided with the cancellation of a number of major events, including two Vancouver Canucks games over the weekend.
The new rules — which also coincided with other parts of the country rapidly applying new restrictions around the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 — will extend all the way to New Year’s Eve activities. Health officials are warning that, even with the new rules in place, the Omicron variant’s ability to spread quickly means that people need to be extra vigilant over the next two weeks to avoid exponential growth in new case numbers.
Officials say they will update the public about the spread of the Omicron variant in the province on Tuesday.
The province also declared no new outbreaks at health-care facilities.
Overall, the new cases last week (3,721) were mostly among fully vaccinated people, with 60.6% of cases — 2,255 people — having had two shots before testing positive. In comparison, partially vaccinated patients accounted for 1.9% of cases, and non-vaccinated people comprised 37.5% of the new cases.
Currently, 92.1% of all eligible adults in B.C. have received their first vaccine dose, with 89.3% having had their second and 17% having gotten their third booster shot. Also, the province has up to this point administered 9.17 million doses of vaccines so far, fully covering 82.6% of the total provincial population eligible for the shots (including children).
