For the second week in a row, the City of Delta has seen a big jump in COVID-19 cases due to the rise of the Omicron variant.
According to the BC Centre for Disease Control’s (BCCDC) latest community map of cases, covering the period of Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, Delta had 769 cases. For the reporting period of Dec. 19 to 25, Delta had 433 cases.
As for some of the neighbouring communities, for the latest reporting period, Richmond saw 563 cases, Surrey, 2,619, South Surrey/White Rock, 637 and Richmond 563 cases.
The Omicron variant is making itself felt in a surge of cases around the province.
There were 3,223 new infections reported on Thursday, raising the number of people actively fighting infections in B.C. to a record 31,817. Of those, 324 are in hospital, 90 of which are in intensive care units (ICUs).
Those numbers, however, are known to be a severe undercount, as the province's testing capacity has maxed out and people have been advised to stay home and isolate rather than test in many cases.
Many people who do book testing appointments at public health sites are also being sent home with rapid antigen tests (RATs), since the standard PCR tests are being saved for health-care workers, seniors and others who may be more vulnerable. RAT results are not included in the official daily case counts.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has estimated that actual case counts may be four to five times higher than the reported number.
B.C. has ramped up the number of booster dose shots provided in recent days, and part of the reason for this is a large clinic set up at the Vancouver Convention Centre, where there was an hours-long line-up in the freezing rain on Thursday.
With older British Columbians shown to be more vulnerable to serious infections and death, it's a worrying development that there have been 16 new outbreaks in health-care facilities, including seniors' care homes and retirement communities, in the past day. In total, B.C. has 37 active outbreaks in health-care facilities.
-with files from Glacier Media
