B.C.'s second most-populous health authority has the lowest number of new COVID-19 cases in latest update
One of the most populated health authorities in British Columbia also had the fewest new cases of COVID-19 in the latest update from the health ministry.
On Friday, the ministry said 83 cases of the disease had been recorded in Vancouver Coastal Health in the 24-hour period between updates.
That's out of the 768 added to the province's tally of total confirmed cases.
Vancouver Coastal Health represents 1,193,977 patients in total, according to provincial population estimates from the most recent year available: 2019.
In terms of population it is second only to Fraser Health, which has 1,906,933 patients under its authority.
Fraser Health had 239 new cases, according to Friday's update – nearly three times that of Vancouver Coastal.
The Interior Health Authority, with about 827,300 people, saw another 183 cases confirmed through testing by Friday's update, followed by 161 in Northern Health (population: 284,300) and 102 in Island Health (858,800).
Still, daily case results are not the best indicator of how the disease is spreading in B.C.
While relatively few new cases were noted in the region that includes the City of Vancouver, the authority is still dealing with more than 1,000 active cases.
It's a lower number than the active cases in the Fraser and Interior health authorities (1,846 and 1,499), but still higher than the other two (933 in Northern Health, and 700 in Island Health).
And four deaths were noted in Vancouver, compared to two in Fraser Health. Five people died of COVID-19 in the Interior between Thursday's and Friday's updates.
Friday's update marked the deadliest 24 hours in the pandemic since February.
Vancouver Coastal Health is also dealing with multiple health-care facility outbreaks, though Fraser Health has more than any other health region at the moment, and Island Health is the only authority without at least one.
Mapping from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control breaks vaccination rates into local health area, not the broader health authorities.
From the data, which was last updated Monday, it appears the rate of people aged 12 and older with both doses of COVID-19 vaccine is lowest in the following LHAs:
- Peace River South (49 per cent);
- Peace River North (50 per cent);
- Nechako (58 per cent);
- Enderby (59 per cent);
- Creston (60 per cent); and
- Kettle Valley (60 per cent).
The areas with the highest vaccination coverage are:
- Central Coast (90 per cent);
- Saanich Peninsula (88 per cent);
- Vancouver-Midtown (87 per cent);
- Vancouver-Northeast (87 per cent);
- North Vancouver (86 per cent);
- Delta (85 per cent);
- Vancouver City Centre (84 per cent);
- New Westminster (83 per cent);
- Vancouver Westside (83 per cent);
- Burnaby (82 per cent);
- Richmond (82 per cent);
- Tri-Cities (82 per cent);
- Howe Sound (81 per cent);
- South Surrey/White Rock (81 per cent);
- Surrey (81 per cent); and
- West Vancouver/Bowen Island (81 per cent).
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
'My family doctor just fired me': Ontario patients frustrated with de-rostering
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
Ottawa pizzeria places among top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world at international competition
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Canada Post cracks down on Nunavut loophole to get free Amazon Prime shipping
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
Wildfire near Fort McMurray more than triples overnight, several evacuation alerts remain in place
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Putin replaces Russian defence minister in rare cabinet shakeup
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Man fatally 'slashed in the neck' in downtown Toronto, suspect outstanding
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
WATCH Dashcam video shows terrifying near-miss on two-lane northern Ontario highway
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Edibles, armchairs and adapters: Here are the recalls for this week
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.