Delta variant of COVID-19 now makes up nearly 4 in 10 cases in B.C., data shows

New data from the BC Centre for Disease control shows that the highly-transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 has grown to nearly four in 10 cases in the province, up from fewer than one in 10 just two weeks before.

The data comes as the province reported more than 100 new cases in a 24-hour period for the first time in five weeks.

The BCCDC released the data Friday, which covers the week of July 11 to July 15.

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Out of 376 cases recorded that week, the Delta variant, first identified in India, made up 39 per cent of cases, while the Gamma variant, first identified in Brazil, made up 40 per cent. The Alpha variant, first identified in the U.K., made up 17 per cent of cases.

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Last week, the BCCDC reported the Delta variant made up 33 per cent of cases, while the week before it was just eight per cent.

Research has found that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective against the Delta variant, but only when people receive both doses.

Partially vaccinated people remain at a much greater risk of contracting it or becoming seriously ill.

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said Friday that 96 per cent of new cases reported in B.C. between June15 and July 15 were among people who weren’t fully vaccinated.

As of Friday, more than 2.68 million people — 58.1 per cent of those eligible and 52.2 per cent of the population — have been fully vaccinated.

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There were strong regional variances in the prevalence of Delta.

In the Vancouver Island Health Region, all of the 14 cases reported over the week in question were found to be the Delta variant.

In the Interior Health Region, which has seen growing case numbers and lagging vaccination rates, Delta made up a whopping 74 per cent of the 122 cases over the week reported.

More than half of the new cases reported on Friday were in the Interior Health region.

Vancouver Coastal Health had the second highest prevalence of Delta, at 33 per cent, followed by the Fraser Health region at 15 per cent.

Officials said 97 per cent of all samples tested were at least one of the known variants of concern.

The BCCDC cautions that the data reported on Friday is subject to change due to a lag in sequencing some samples.