British Columbia reported 2,441 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, along with four additional deaths as the Omicron variant continued to drive a fifth wave of the pandemic.
The update brought B.C.’s seven-day average for new cases to 1,403 and left the province with at least 10,415 active cases.
Of the new cases, a staggering 959 were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and 347 were in the Island Health region.
Another 263 were in the Fraser Health region, 40 were in the Interior Health region and four were in the Northern Health region.
However, the numbers come with a degree of uncertainty, as the province acknowledged Friday that it had reached its testing capacity, and was triaging PCR tests for health-care workers, seniors and the most vulnerable.
“Our testing centres are at maximum capacity. We did over 20,000 PCR tests yesterday, and that’s the maximum we can do,” provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said.
“Rapid testing is now being used to supplement PCR testing at many of our testing sites.”
Amid pressure on the testing system and surging case numbers, Henry urged anyone feeling ill with any symptoms at all to cancel any holiday plans they may have made.
There were 192 people in hospital, an overnight decrease of three, and 71 people in critical or intensive care, an overnight drop of four.
While hospitalization numbers are considered “lagging indicators,” in that they tend to climb one to two weeks behind case numbers.
Henry said that early data emerging in countries such as the U.K. and South Africa offers some hope that the Omicron variant could be less severe, but that it was too early to say.
As of Friday, more than 4.3 million British Columbians — 87.8 per cent of those eligible and 85 per cent of B.C.’s population — has had at least one dose of vaccine.
More than 4.12 million people — 82.8 per cent of those eligible and 80.1 per cent of those eligible — have had two doses.
A further 807,000 people, 15.6 per cent of B.C.’s population has had a third, booster dose.
Over the past week, breakthrough infections have surged and the percentage of new cases. The 15 per cent of British Columbians who remain completely unvaccinated accounted for 20.6 per cent of new cases, while the 80.1 per cent of fully vaccinated British Columbians accounted for 78 per cent of new cases.
However, the vaccine appears to have continued to provide strong protection against severe outcomes. with people not fully vaccinated accounting for 67.2 per cent of hospitalizations.
Since the start of the pandemic, B.C. has reported 235,658 total cases, while 2,414 people have died.
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