Active COVID-19 cases in Delta hit a record high last week, the most since health officials began releasing city-level numbers in early December.
Every Wednesday, the BC Centre for Disease Control releases a map showing the geographic distribution of COVID-19 cases by local health area of residence. The latest weekly map shows Delta had 262 cases for the week of April 4 to 10, 63 cases more than the week previous and 54 more than the previous high set the week ending Dec. 5 — the first weekly map released by the BC CDC.
The number of active cases in the city has been climbing for 10 straight weeks — from a low of 59 the week ending Jan. 30.
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The overall number of active cases in the Fraser Health region also hit a high last week with 4,099 — 845 more cases than the week before and the most cases since the BC CDC began releasing weekly case totals by local health area. The previous high was last week, with a total of 3,254. Before that the record was 3,139 for the week of Dec. 5, 2020.
All but three of the 13 local health areas in the region saw increases over the previous week, most notably in Surrey (1,573, up 319, Tri-Cities (151, up 133), Burnaby (473, up 107), and Abbotsford (313, up 107).
Wednesday’s map release came as health officials reported a 1,168 new COVID-19 cases in the province over the past 24 hours — 632 of those in the Fraser Health region — and six more deaths, bringing the total to 1,521.
THE LATEST: B.C.’s COVID-19 case count jumps to 1,168 Wednesday, nearly 400 in hospital (April 14, 2021)
Last week, the BC CDC released an updated map showing the total cumulative cases by local health area from the start of the pandemic through the end of March 2021. That map shows there were a total of 3,337 COVID-19 cases in Delta through March 31, with 614 new cases that month.
The map also shows there were 4, 406 new cases in Surrey in March, and 10,554 new cases across the Fraser Health region. Vancouver Coastal Health, meanwhile, had 5,726 new cases that month.
As of Thursday morning (April 15), there were no outbreaks at any Delta long-term care, assisted living or independent living facilities, however Fraser Health’s website listed exposures at 13 Delta schools: Brooke Elementary (April 9), Burnsview Secondary (April 7, 8 and 9), Delview Secondary (April 1 and 6), English Bluff Elementary (April 1), Gibson Elementary (April 6 and 7), Immaculate Conception School (April 1), North Delta Secondary (April 1, 6, 7, 8 and 9), Pebble Hill Traditional Elementary (April 6, 7 and 8), Sands Secondary (April 6, 7 and 8), Seaquam Secondary (April 6, 7, 8 and 9), South Delta Secondary (April 1, 5, 6 and 7), Southpointe Academy (April 6 and 7) and Sacred Heart Elementary (April 1 and 6).
Fraser Health defines exposure as “a single person with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection who attended school during their infectious period.” Two or more individuals is defined as a cluster, while an outbreak describes a situation involving “multiple individuals with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infections when transmission is likely widespread within the school setting.”
SEE ALSO: COVID-19 spike in B.C. could overwhelm B.C. hospitals: modelling group (April 15, 2021)
SEE ALSO: B.C. Greens call for a ‘targeted shutdown’ strategy, more COVID data as cases remain high (April 15, 2021)
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