Cases of COVID-19 continued to rise with the fast Omicron spread as Friday sees nearly 2500 cases and four new deaths. B.C. is reporting 2,441 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 235,658 cases in the province. There are currently 10,415 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 222,604 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 192 individuals are currently in hospital and 71 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

VICTORIA – Cases of COVID-19 continued to rise with the fast Omicron spread as Friday sees nearly 2500 cases and four new deaths.

As of Friday, Dec. 24, 87.8% (4,377,551) of eligible people five and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 82.8% (4,126,279) have received their second dose.

In addition, 91.8% (4,256,707) of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 89% (4,126,185) received their second dose and 17% (807,057) have received a third dose.

Also, 92.2% (3,988,184) of all eligible adults in B.C. have received their first dose, 89.5% (3,870,981) received their second dose and 19% (806,246) have received a third dose.

B.C. is reporting 2,441 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 235,658 cases in the province.

There are currently 10,415 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 222,604 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 192 individuals are currently in hospital and 71 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.

The new/active cases include:

* 1,001 new cases in Fraser Health
* Total active cases: 3,554

* 967 new cases in Vancouver Coastal Health
* Total active cases: 4,571

* 188 new cases in Interior Health
* Total active cases: 778

* 66 new cases in Northern Health
* Total active cases: 236

* 219 new cases in Island Health
* Total active cases: 1,274

* no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada
* Total active cases: two

In the past 24 hours, four new deaths have been reported, for an overall total of 2,414.

The new deaths include:

* Fraser Health: two

* Interior Health: one

* Northern Health: one

There have been 1,613 cases of the Omicron variant of concern confirmed in B.C.:

* Fraser Health: 263

* Vancouver Coastal Health: 959

* Interior Health: 40

* Northern Health: four

* Island Health: 347

There has been one new health-care facility outbreak at Ridgeview Lodge (Interior Health), for a total of two facilities with ongoing outbreaks, including:

* long-term care:
* Ridgeview Lodge (Interior Health)

* acute care:
* Lions Gate Hospital (Vancouver Coastal Health)

* assisted or independent living:
* none

From Dec. 16-22, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 21.9% of cases and from Dec. 9-22 they accounted for 67.2% of hospitalizations.

Past week cases (Dec. 16-22) - Total 8,165

* Not vaccinated: 1,684 (20.6%)

* Partially vaccinated: 105 (1.3%)

* Fully vaccinated: 6,376 (78.1%)

Past two weeks cases hospitalized (Dec. 9-22) - Total 180

* Not vaccinated: 117 (65.0%)

* Partially vaccinated: 4 (2.2%)

* Fully vaccinated: 59 (32.8%)

Past week, cases per 100,000 population after adjusting for age (Dec. 16-22)

* Not vaccinated: 252.8

* Partially vaccinated: 50.2

* Fully vaccinated: 139.8

Past two weeks, cases hospitalized per 100,000 population after adjusting for age (Dec. 9-22)

* Not vaccinated: 27.2

* Partially vaccinated: 3.1

* Fully vaccinated: 1.3

Since December 2020, the Province has administered 9,276,592 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Pfizer Pediatric COVID-19 vaccines.

Note: The Ministry of Health will provide preliminary COVID-19 case counts on Dec. 27 and 28. Regular reporting will return on Wednesday, Dec. 29 in the daily COVID-19 bulletin.