New Westminster's COVID-19 case count has more than doubled in the past week.
The latest numbers from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control show 30 officially reported cases between July 3 and 9, up from 13 the previous week.
The jump comes as the Omicron BA.5 subvariant is gaining steam globally. BA.5 is now the fastest-growing lineage in B.C., according to the BCCDC.
Those numbers do not reflect the total number of actual COVID cases in the city. Official public case counts are considered to be a vast undercount of COVID-19 cases in B.C., since the majority of people have not been eligible for testing since the beginning of 2022 in the face of the original Omicron wave.
Local numbers continue to remain much lower than they were at the peak of the original Omicron surge, when New Westminster's official case count soared to 214 (in the week of Jan. 18 to 24).
However, the provincewide trend shows reason for caution.
There are now 426 people with COVID-19 in B.C. hospitals, up 57 from one week ago and the highest number since May 26, according to BCCDC data. Of those, 34 are in intensive care units (ICUs), which is down by two from July 7.
COVID-19 deaths continue to accumulate, with 22 people listed as having died while infected with COVID-19 in the week up until July 9. That's down by two from the 24 deaths in the previous week.
Current hospitalization and death data is not available on a local level, so New Westminster-specific numbers are unavailable.
Where can I find B.C. COVID-19 data?
See the B.C. Centre for Disease Control reports for the latest variants of concern, local case maps, and vaccination data.
— with files from Glen Korstrom
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, [email protected]
