The Northern Health region saw 584 new cases of COVID-19 reported over the weekend, according to the B.C. Ministry of Health.
The number of active cases in the region rose to 1,139 – up from 935 reported on Friday.
One more COVID-related death was reported in the Northern Health region over the weekend, bringing the region’s death toll from the pandemic up to 278. There were 10 people hospitalized, including two listed in intensive care, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control reported on Monday.
The province saw a total of 6,966 new cases over the weekend, and there were 34,551 active cases in B.C. as of Monday, the Ministry of Health reported.
As of Monday, 88.7 per cent of eligible British Columbians (aged five and older) had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and 83.2 per cent had received two doses. In addition, 25.8 per cent of people aged 12 and older had received a third booster dose.
More than 9.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C., including 432,499 doses in the Northern Health region.
The new Omicron variant of COVID-19 appears to responsible for more breakthrough cases in the vaccinated population. Between Dec. 31 and Jan. 6, unvaccinated people accounted for 15.1 per cent of new COVID-19 cases (482.7 cases per 100,000 unvaccinated people), while the fully vaccinated (two or more doses) accounted for 82.2 per cent of cases (390.4 cases per 100,000 vaccinated people).
However, the unvaccinated still represented 35.6 per cent of those hospitalized with COVID-19 (35.5 hospitalizations per 100,000 unvaccinated people), between Dec. 24 and Jan. 6. The partially vaccinated accounted for 3.2 per cent of hospitalizations (10.2 hospitalizations per 100,000 partially vaccinated people) and the fully vaccinated accounted for 61.1 per cent of COVID-related hospitalizations (5.3 hospitalizations per 100,000 fully vaccinated people).
Based on those numbers, the unvaccinated were roughly seven times as likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 as the fully vaccinated.
In the Prince George local health area as of Jan. 6, 31 per cent of children aged five to 11 had received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. For those aged 12 and up, 88 per cent of the Prince George area population had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 84 per cent were fully vaccinated.
Since the start of the pandemic there have been 20,728 cases of COVID-19 in the Northern Health region, of which 19,164 people have recovered.
