A single death related to overdoses from illicit drugs was recorded in Prince George in June, an update issued Thursday by the B.C. Coroners Service is showing.
The count is in marked contrast both to the six reported for the city in May and to the trend seen across the rest of the province, where another record for such fatalities in a month was set.
The Coroners Service said the 175 fatalities in June surpassed the previous high of 171 deaths in May. There were 219 deaths in the first three months of 2016, when the emergency was declared.
For Prince George, the year-to-date total now stands at 16, 10 of them from opioids in which fentanyl was detected, unchanged from May. In all, there were 25 such deaths in the city last year, 17 of them fentanyl related, down from a peak of 49 in 2018, 46 of those involving fentanyl.
The numbers as of the end of June were issued the same week that Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Judy Darcy said $4.27 million will be provided to health authorities across B.C. to either establish new "substance use teams" or to expand ones already in place.
Northern Health spokeswoman Eryn Collins said the authority's share will be used to expand the existing teams and fill temporary gaps in services and to find housing and support for addicts who have come down with the novel coronavirus and need to self isolate.
There were no active cases of the virus as of Thursday, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
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