It is now well over a year since the start of the COVID outbreak in BC with the first confirmed COVID infection being reported on January 31st. Subsequently, this triggered a first elevated wave of COVID counts with relatively high mortality rates between March and May of 2020. In mid May new daily case counts started to drop and remained fairly low throughout the summer. The second wave started in August with significantly higher infection rates but, as more effective medical treatments have been developed, with much reduced mortality rates relative to the new case counts.

In November of 2020 everything changed as daily infections and deaths suddenly jumped to previously unseen levels. With well over 450 reported deaths, November set the since unbroken record of COVID related deaths ever. However, while monthly death counts continuously dropped until today, case counts further increased in December, noticeably dropped in early 2021, and returned to a new all-time record as of March this year.

Based on the latest case counts the current COVID situation is described as follows:
* With 19,594 new infection cases, March 2021 marks the worst month ever with a new all-time record since the beginning of the pandemic
* With 1,072 new cases, April 03 of 2021 sets a new record for the most case counts in a single day
* Weekly case counts have been consistently increasing for 9 weeks in a row
* The current week (Mon, March 29 to Sat, April 03) show the highest weekly case counts ever with 5,552 reported new cases with Sunday numbers still to be added
* Fraser and Vancouver Coastal remain the worst affected regions in BC
* The Shuswap remains fairly stable with between 40 to 60 daily case counts and minor numeric fluctuations

For an updated situation overview check out our daily updated COVID dashboards. All COVID numbers are based on official Government of Canada and BC Ministry of Health publications. Please note that regional case reporting is not available on weekends and holidays.

Wear your masks and practice social distancing as vaccination is progressing steadily. If we all do our part in preventing the spread of the virus, chances are that normality can return before the end of this year.