COVID-19 cases totals in Delta continue to drop.
According to the BC Centre for Disease Control’s (BCCDC) latest community map of cases, covering the period of Jan. 9 to 15, Delta had 275 cases, which is down from the previous period of Jan. 2 to 8 which saw 438 reported cases.
As for some case totals from neighbouring communities for the period of Jan. 9 to 15, Surrey had 1,972 cases, South Surrey/White Rock 311 and Richmond 302.
Delta’s vaccine rates continue to be among the highest in the province with 96 per cent of residents having their first dose, 94 per cent their second dose and 37 per cent their third dose. These totals are as of Jan. 18.
Health officials' recent guidance to vaccinated individuals who have mild COVID-19 symptoms is to self-isolate and not get tested in order to not overwhelm testing sites. That directive has meant that daily and active case counts are likely inaccurate.
The official count is that health officials detected 2,150 new COVID-19 infections in the past day. That reduces the number of people actively infected to 34,835, from the record of 37,224 set two days ago.
Of the 305,715 known COVID-19 infections in the province since the first case was detected in January 2020, 265,765, or 86.9%, are deemed by the government to have recovered.
Vaccines have shown to be effective in preventing infection and serious illness.
Between Jan. 12 and Jan. 18, people not fully vaccinated with two doses of vaccine accounted for 27% of cases, and between Jan. 5 and Jan. 18, they accounted for 31% of hospitalizations.
The B.C. government estimates that 89.4% of eligible British Columbians, older than five years, have had at least one vaccine shot, while 83.5% of that eligible population is fully vaccinated with two jabs.
Provincial data show 4,455,046 B.C. residents have had at least one dose of vaccine, while 93.4% of those, or 4,161,148, are considered fully vaccinated with two doses. There were 55,351 people given booster, or third, doses of vaccine in the past day, for a total of 1,700,206.
The B.C. government last year estimated that the province's total population is 5,147,712. Hence, Glacier Media's calculation is that 86.5% of B.C.'s total population has had at least one dose of vaccine, and 80.8% of the province's total population has had two doses. More than 33% have had their booster doses.
-with files from Glacier Media
