New COVID-19 cases in New Westminster went up again, according to the latest data from the BC Centre for Disease Control.
BCCDC data show New Westminster had a total of 73 cases from March 7 to 13 – up from the 67 new cases between Feb. 28 and March 6 and the 71 new coronavirus cases between Feb. 21 and 27 – the same number as Feb.14 and 20. These past few weeks have been up sharply from the 46 cases from Feb. 7 to 13, and the 50 new coronavirus cases between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6, but down from the 85 new coronavirus cases between Jan. 24 and 30.
New West has only 24 fewer cases than the city of Richmond, despite a much smaller population.
The number of people actively battling what the province calls "variants of concern" has risen dramatically since the start of March, when there were 158 known cases.
A lab sequencing issue meant no new variant data was available on March 17, but the B.C. government's data from yesterday shows that the total number of these cases has risen more than 530%, to 996, compared with March 1.
So far in B.C., none of the people infected with a mutant strain of the virus has died, while 130 people are actively battling infections, and 886 people are considered recovered because they have had two negative tests.
The B.1.1.7 variant, first discovered in the U.K. is the most widely spread variant in the province, as there are 921 cases. The remaining variants include 41 cases of the B.1.351 strain first discovered in South Africa, and 34 cases of the P.1. variant first discovered in Brazil.
B.C. health officials who have found variant cases did so by retesting samples previously reported as being the main COVID-19 strain. Sometimes the retesting of previously tested samples have gone back a few months, provincial health officer Bonnie Henry said earlier this week.
The spread of all strains of COVID-19 has shown to be challenging to quell.
New infections have continued to be around 500 per day. Between March 16 and March 17, health officials found 498 new cases, for a total of 89,427 since the first case was discovered in late January, 2020. Of those, 83,083 have recovered.
