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New COVID-19 cases in B.C. are increasing at a rapid pace.

Richmond cases soared to 431 last week

Published 4:51 PST, Thu December 30, 2021

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New COVID-19 cases in Richmond skyrocketed to 431 last week (Dec. 19 to 25), up from 106 the previous week (Dec. 12 to 18).

The increase mirrors record growth across B.C., with 4,383 new cases reported today—another single-day record. Since the pandemic began, B.C. has recorded 251,054 cases.

Of the new cases, 977 are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region (including Richmond), 2,319 in the Fraser Health region, 460 in the Island Health region, 501 in the Interior Health region, 122 in the Northern Health region and four new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

There have been 2,825 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant to date: 1,333 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 777 in Fraser Health, 548 in Island Health, 152 in Interior Health, 13 in Northern Health and two unknown.

There are 17,357 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C. and 211 of those people are hospitalized, 66 of whom are in intensive care. In its release today, the province notes that the number of active cases excludes those who have died, discontinued isolation or been lost to followup.

To date, 9,368,643 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Pfizer Pediatric COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C.; 4,131,506 of those are second doses and 884,416 are third doses.

This means that 92.3 per cent of adults, 91.9 per cent of people aged 12 and older and 88.0 per cent of people aged five and older have received their first dose of a vaccine. In addition, 89.6 per cent of adults, 89.1 per cent of those aged 12 and older and 82.9 per cent of those aged five and older have received two doses; 20.4 per cent of adults and 19.1 per cent of those aged 12-plus have received three doses.

Sadly, there was one new virus-related death reported today, bringing that total to 2,420. The person who died lived in the Interior Health region.

Health authorities reported six new health-care facility outbreaks. Active outbreaks continue at nine long-term care facilities, one assisted or independent living facility, two acute care facilities and one mental health and substance use facility.

From Dec. 22 to 28, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 15.8 per cent of cases.
From Dec. 15 to 28, they accounted for 54.7 per cent of hospitalizations.

Past week cases (Dec. 22 to 28)—Total 15,429

• Not vaccinated: 2,185 (14.2 per cent)

• Partially vaccinated: 249 (1.6 per cent)

• Fully vaccinated: 12,995 (84.2 per cent)

Past two weeks cases hospitalized (Dec. 15 to 28)—Total 117

• Not vaccinated: 64 (54.7 per cent)

• Partially vaccinated: zero (0.0 per cent)

• Fully vaccinated: 53 (45.3 per cent)

Past week, cases per 100,000 population after adjusting for age (Dec. 22 to 28)

• Not vaccinated: 337.3

• Partially vaccinated: 96.4

• Fully vaccinated: 283.7

Past two weeks, cases hospitalized per 100,000 population after adjusting for age (Dec. 15 to 28)

• Not vaccinated: 14.9

• Partially vaccinated: 0.0

• Fully vaccinated: 1.1

For the latest medical updates, including case counts, prevention, risks and to find a testing centre near you: http://www.bccdc.ca/ or follow @CDCofBC on Twitter.