Ministry of Health reports big jump in daily cases in B.C., as active cases rise to 1,764
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There were 342 new cases of COVID-19 reported in B.C. on Wednesday, a big jump from an average of 185 cases a day over the previous four days.
This means B.C.’s seven-day average daily case count continues to climb, after bottoming out on July 5 with 38 cases a day on average following the third wave of COVID-19 infection. The new numbers show the province is in the early stages of a fourth wave of infection.
According to the B.C. Ministry of Health, active cases of the disease are also climbing and are now at 1,764 (220 more than the previous day). There are 55 people being treated in hospital with COVID-19, including 23 patients in intensive care. There were no new deaths reported, with five outbreaks in health-care settings.
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Interior Health continues to account for around half of all daily cases, despite having a relatively small population.
Close to 68 per cent of all British Columbians aged 12 and over are fully immunized in B.C.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, a University of B.C. professor and mathematical modelling expert, Sarah Otto, said the number of COVID-19 cases caused by the more infectious Delta variant is doubling every seven to 10 days.
“The Delta variant increases the viral load by about 1,000-fold, making it much easier to catch and transmit,” Otto said.
She said B.C. is beginning a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections, but how high it will get and how fast it will rise depends on everybody’s behaviour.
The two things people can do to prevent the wave from getting “very high” is get vaccinated and avoid indoor crowded spaces without a mask, she said.
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The province and the country will continue seeing such waves as new, more transmissible variants arise, but Otto noted that “vaccinations are really protecting people from the worst ravages of this disease.”
The seven-day average daily case count peaked during the third wave in B.C. on April 12 at 1,130 cases.
In the Public Health Agency of Canada’s latest COVID-19 epidemiology and modelling, the reproduction rate of COVID-19 has been above the critical point since July 18.
— With files from Canadian Press
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