COVID-19 continues to surge in British Columbia where health officials reported 342 new cases but no additional deaths on Wednesday.
It was nearly double the 185 cases reported last Wednesday and brought B.C.’s seven-day average for new cases up to 219.
The last time B.C. reported more than 300 cases in a 24-hour period was more than two months ago.
The Interior Health region — where vaccination rates lag — represented half of the new cases at 171.
There were 66 cases in the Fraser Health region, 57 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 13 in Northern Health, and 32 in Island Health. Three cases were in people who lived outside of Canada.
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Active cases climbed again to 1,764.
The highly-contagious Delta variant is believed to be driving the surge in new cases. Delta made up 60 per cent of B.C. cases as of July 24 according to the BC Centre for Disease Control. UBC mathematical biologist Prof. Sarah Otto told Global News on Saturday it could make up nearly all new cases within weeks.
More than 3.77 million British Columbians — 81.5 per cent of those eligible and 73.3 per cent of the population — have had one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
More than 3.14 million people — 67.9 per cent of those eligible and 61.1 per cent of the population — have been fully immunized.
However, the pace of vaccination has fallen sharply. Just 4,146 people received a first dose in the past 24 hours, while 25,358 people got a second dose.
The number of patients in hospital with COVID-19 edged slightly upward to 55, with 23 people in critical or intensive care.
Since the start of the pandemic, B.C. has reported 150,973 cases and 1,772 deaths.
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