New Westminster has set a new record for weekly COVID-19 cases.
BCCDC data show New Westminster had a total of 103 cases from March 28 to April 3, according to a posting late Wednesday.
That’s the highest level in 2021, according to the latest data from the BC Centre for Disease Control, and possibly the highest since the pandemic began as the BCCDC only started posted weekly city cases in winter 2020.
The number is well above the 85 cases between Jan. 24 and 30. New West had 95 cases from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5, 2020.
New West saw 78 cases from March 21 to 27 – up from the 63 cases between March 14 and 20, the 73 cases from March 7 to 13, 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.
The number of British Columbians with serious bouts of COVID-19 continue to rise, with a net total of nine more people admitted to hospitals' intensive care units as of Wednesday’s numbers, and a record 105 people now in those units battling for their lives.
The number of COVID-19 patients in all units of B.C. hospitals rose by two, to 330 – the highest number since January 18.
New infections continued to be detected at a rate of around 1,000 per day, with health officials confirming 997 new cases.
That pushes the number of people infected with the virus that has spawned a global pandemic to 106.985, with more than 90.3%, or 96,626 people being deemed by the province as having recovered.
Two more people died while infected with COVID-19 as of Wednesday’s update, for a total of 1,491 since the first such death in the province was recorded in March, 2020.
The vast majority of those actively battling infections have been told to self-isolate. The number of active infections rose by 57 overnight, to 8,728, which is the highest total since December 23.
Health officials are closely monitoring a record 14,602 people for symptoms as a result of those individuals having had known contact with identified cases. That number is up by 484 people from yesterday's record high.
Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Bonnie Henry said in a joint statement, "We are actively monitoring and screening for all of the virus strains to understand how they may impact us and what additional action may be required to keep our communities safe."
Despite that sentiment, no genetic sequencing for mutant variants was done in the past day. As such, there is no new data, and 266 people continue to fight active mutant-variant infections, according to Dix and Henry.
Health officials provided 34,040 doses of vaccine to 32,010 people in the past day, with 30 people getting needed second doses. In total, officials have provided 946,096 doses to 858,592 people, with 87,504 people getting needed second doses since the first dose was administered in mid-December.
- With files from Glen Korstrom, Glacier Media
