B.C. health officials say they have detected Canada’s first-ever case of H5 avian influenza in a human.
In a news release Saturday afternoon, the office of the provincial health officer said a positive test for the H5 influenza virus was performed at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s public health laboratory.
Comments closedThe prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – in B.C. wastewater is high and rising across most regions, according to the latest data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
The BCCDC released its first weekly data update of the 2024-25 respiratory illness season Thursday, and took the opportunity to dramatically revise the information it presents and the way it is presented.
Gone is the previous year’s “COVID-19 Situation Report” dashboard, replaced with a new dashboard titled “Viral Respiratory Outcomes.”
While the situation report included specific numbers for newly confirmed infections, hospital admissions, critical care admissions and deaths within 30 days of a positive COVID test, the new dashboard reports the latter three numbers as a rate per million residents.
Comments closedThe number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in B.C. has risen to its highest level since January, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s latest monthly update.
There were 214 test-positive COVID patients in provincial hospitals as of Thursday, according to the BCCDC. That’s the second-highest total the agency has published all year, only slightly below the 219 seen on Jan. 4, the first – and still highest – total reported in 2024.
Thursday’s update showed the number of lab-confirmed cases rose each week in August, with 365 new positive tests recorded during the week of Aug. 4 to 10 and 462 recorded last week.
Comments closedBritish Columbia’s top doctor has ended the COVID-19 public health emergency, which began nearly 1,600 days ago on March 17, 2020.
Declaring COVID-19 a public health emergency gave provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry the ability to issue mask mandates, travel and gathering restrictions and vaccination requirements for health-care workers to curb the spread of the virus.
While experts The Tyee spoke with agree the public health emergency may no longer be needed, they stressed that COVID-19 still poses a serious and potentially deadly threat to the general public.
“COVID is still a major, ongoing health issue and crisis,” said Tara Moriarty, an associate professor at the University of Toronto, an infectious disease expert and co-founder of the COVID-19 Resources Canada database.
Comments closedIt may not be on most people’s minds, but COVID-19 is on the rise again in B.C.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control released its monthly data on the disease Thursday, showing 204 test-positive patients in provincial hospitals. It’s only the second time all year that the hospitalized population has risen above 200, and the first time since early January.
The hospital census is more than double what it was at this time last year, when the BCCDC’s July update showed just 96 COVID patients receiving hospital care.
Comments closedThe number of COVID-19-positive patients in B.C. hospitals surged by 67 per cent during the month of May, according to data released by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control on Thursday.
The centre’s first update since May 2 shows 162 test-positive patients in B.C. hospitals, up from just 97 in the previous release.
The latest hospitalization total is the highest the BCCDC has reported since March 14, when there were 163 people hospitalized with the disease.
The data is also a notable shift from last June, when the number of COVID-positive patients in B.C. hospitals was plummeting.
Comments closedThe number of patients with COVID-19 in B.C. hospitals declined to its lowest level of 2024 in the latest data update from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
There were 133 test-positive patients in provincial hospitals as of Thursday, according to the BCCDC. The last published update to show a total lower than that was in August of last year, when the BCCDC reported just 76 patients hospitalized.
This week’s hospitalized population is less than half of what it was around this time last year. The final published update of March 2023 showed 294 patients in B.C. hospitals.
Comments closedThe number of COVID-positive patients in B.C. hospitals declined this week, according to the latest data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
There were 148 test-positive patients in hospitals across the province as of Thursday, a decrease of 15 – or about nine per cent – from the 163 reported in hospital at this time last week.
The latest data continues the trend of relatively stable hospitalization levels seen throughout 2024 so far, with the first update of the year remaining the only one to show more than 200 COVID patients receiving hospital treatment.
Comments closedCases of influenza, RSV and COVID-19 all increased in B.C. this week, according to the latest respiratory illness data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
All three diseases remain well below their recent transmission peaks, however.
There were 528 positive tests for influenza in the province during the most recent epidemiological week, which spanned Jan. 21 to 27. That’s an increase from the 442 positive tests recorded the week before.
Comments closedNearly four years after B.C. confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus that would come to be known as COVID-19, the province begins 2024 with 219 people in hospital with the disease.
That’s a notable jump since the last update provided by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control on Dec. 21, when there were 153 test-positive patients in hospital across the province.
In its latest update, the BCCDC says this roughly 43-per-cent increase in the hospitalized population “is being monitored.”
Comments closedThe B.C. Centre for Disease Control published its final respiratory illness data of the year this week, reporting continued increases in transmission of influenza and RSV, while COVID-19 levels remain stable.
There were 153 people hospitalized with COVID as of Thursday, a decrease from the last time that number was reported two weeks ago.
The number of new, lab-confirmed COVID-19 infections also declined in the latest update, though test positivity remained unchanged, indicating the decline was due to fewer government-funded tests being performed.
Comments closedNew data suggests that COVID-19 activity in British Columbia is trending downward, while influenza and RSV are on the rise.
Comments closedThe number of people with COVID-19 in B.C. hospitals rose this week, while other data released Thursday by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control was a mixed bag.
There were 263 test-positive COVID patients in provincial hospitals Thursday, up from 244 last week, an increase of 7.7 per cent.
Comments closedAfter hitting its highest point in more than a year last week, the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 in British Columbia has come down slightly, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
Comments closedOn Thursday, in its first update of October, the BCCDC reported 422 people in hospital with the coronavirus – more than quintuple the August total, and the highest figure reported all year.
Comments closedCOVID-19 cases are on the rise in British Columbia, with the BC Centre for Disease Control reporting hospitalizations have increased 58 per cent in the past two weeks.
Comments closedNew figures show COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths have increased in the province.
Comments closedAfter publishing COVID-19 data just once a month over the summer, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control returned to biweekly updates this week.
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