The BC Centre for Disease Control says, as expected, COVID-19 cases are on the rise in British Columbia.

In its latest update, the Centre says the number of new infections rose from 133 to 877 in the past two weeks.

British Columbia is now the most severely affected province for COVID infections, health care system impact and death in the country.

“The high score in B.C. is driven by a combination of first-time infections and the effectiveness of COVID vaccines starting to wane. People who were infected early in the Omicron wave have begun to lose antibodies providing protection.”, said Tara Moriarty, an infectious-disease researcher.

“Until the end of 2022, B.C. had not had as many first-time infections as other provinces. We’re guessing that as the protective effects of vaccines of the new doses that people had in the fall campaign are starting to wear off that B.C. is starting to catch up in the number of first-time infections.”

Hospitalizations increased 58 percent while 24 people died over the same time period, compared to nine deaths in the second week of August.

British Columbia is followed by Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan, which are all marked “severe.”

As of Thursday, October 5, 2023, there were 422 people in B.C. hospitals with COVID-19.