More than 9,300 people tested positive for COVID-19 in B.C. this weekend

Thousands of cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in B.C. over the New Year's Day weekend, despite limitations impacting how many people are being tested.

In an update Monday, the provincial Health Ministry said 9,332 cases were confirmed over three days. The latest update pushes B.C.'s rolling seven-day average for daily cases up to 3,173 – a record in the province.

Details were not given on vaccinations, hospitalizations or deaths in the first update of the week.

The ministry did include, however, a breakdown of where the cases were, and how many tested positive during each 24-hour period.

According to the latest data, the period with the highest number of cases confirmed was between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, when 4,033 new cases were diagnosed.

Another 3,069 were confirmed in the next period, between Saturday and Sunday, followed by 2,230 from Sunday to Monday.

The majority of cases (4,859) were recorded in the Fraser Health Authority, the most populous of B.C.'s five health regions.

According to the ministry, 1,797 cases were confirmed over the weekend in Vancouver Coastal Health, 1,185 in the Interior, and 1,117 in Island Health.

Northern Health added 374 cases to the weekend tally.

Regular reporting of COVID-19 data is expected to resume Tuesday, the province said. That will include cases and hospitalizations by vaccination status, metrics that were not made available Monday.

In terms of cases, these updates look only at how many people tested positive with a PCR test, or were epidemiologically-linked to a case confirmed through that type of testing.

The daily updates do not offer a clear picture of how many people tested positive with a rapid test, as many who take those tests in B.C. are encouraged to self-report their results to their health authority.

The case counts also don't factor in the number of people who decided to forgo testing, following the provincial health officer's current recommendations.

Last month, officials issued new guidelines around who should get the tests. Those who are vaccinated, are not considered high risk and have mild symptoms were told that instead of heading to a testing centre, they should just assume they have the disease and self-isolate.

Even with these limitations, B.C. recorded thousands of new cases daily last week. On Friday, 3,795 more positive tests were reported, pushing the seven-day case average to a new record high of 2,738. That was more than quadruple what the average was just two weeks ago, even with the limits on testing capacity.

Late last month, B.C.'s provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry estimated that on any given day, the true total number of cases may be three to four times higher than what is being reported by the ministry because of a variety of factors.

With testing capability limited recently, the true number may even be five times higher than the daily updates suggest, she said.

Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix are expected to speak at a news conference Tuesday about the spread of the disease. 

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Andrew Weichel