COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia
The COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia forms part of an ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). On January 28, 2020, British Columbia became the second province to confirm a case of COVID-19 in Canada. The first case of infection involved a patient who had recently returned from Wuhan, Hubei, China. The first case of community transmission in Canada was confirmed in British Columbia on March 5, 2020.
| COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia | |
|---|---|
| Disease | COVID-19 |
| Virus strain | SARS-CoV-2 |
| Location | British Columbia, Canada |
| First outbreak | Wuhan, Hubei, China |
| Index case | Vancouver |
| Arrival date | January 28, 2020 (4 years, 2 months, 2 weeks and 1 day) |
| Confirmed cases | 341,532 (1,790 Epi-Linked) |
Deaths | 2,766 |
| Fatality rate | 0.81% |
| Vaccinations | 1st doses: 4,477,487 (86.42%) 2nd doses: 4,225,154 (81.54%) 3rd+ doses: 2,455,419 |
| Government website | |
| BC Centre for Disease Control | |
British Columbians have taken numerous emergency measures in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus, such as social distancing and self-isolation. On March 23, 2020, British Columbian Premier John Horgan announced the details of the province-wide emergency relief plan, which includes income support, tax relief and direct funding in order to mitigate economic effects of the pandemic.