VANCOUVER -- The B.C. Centre for Disease Control has released its latest weekly map of COVID-19 cases in the province.
The map shows the highest per-capita infection rates in portions of the Lower Mainland and on the province's North Coast.
As has been the case on nearly every map the BCCDC has released, the local health area that makes up the majority of the City of Surrey recorded the largest number of new coronavirus infections in B.C. during the week of March 7 to 13.
Surrey recorded 925 new cases of COVID-19 during the week shown on the map. No other local health area in Metro Vancouver recorded even 300 cases, though it's worth noting that the City of Vancouver, which is subdivided into six local health areas, saw a total of 603 new infections across those six regions combined.
Surrey leads the way in per-capita cases as well. It's the only local health area in Metro Vancouver to record more than 20 cases per 100,000 residents per day during the week in question.
For comparison, only one of Vancouver's six local health areas - the one that includes the Downtown Eastside - recorded more than 15 cases per 100,000. The rest of Vancouver local health areas were in the 10-to-15-cases-per-100,000 range, as were most other local health areas in Metro Vancouver.
The only other region in Fraser Health that recorded more than 20 cases per 100,000 residents during the week that ended March 13 was the Agassiz local health area. Just 16 cases were detected there, overall, but that total equates to a high per-capita rate because of the region's small population.
The latest map shows a similarly high density of COVID-19 infections on B.C.'s North Coast, with the Prince Rupert, Upper Skeena, Haida Gwaii and Nisga'a local health areas all over the 20-cases-per-100,000 threshold.
Earlier this month, health officials announced that the coronavirus was spreading so rapidly in Prince Rupert that vaccination would be made available to all adult residents on an accelerated schedule.
On Tuesday, the city's mass vaccination clinic opened up to anyone over 18 who wants to be vaccinated.
A city of about 12,000, Prince Rupert and its surrounding local health area recorded 117 cases of COVID-19 between March 7 and 13, according to the BCCDC map.
