COVID rates going up

The average number of new infections of COVID-19 in greater Kelowna rose slightly last week, from 16 to 20 each day.

Reports of new infections dropped in Vernon from 14 to eight each day, held steady in Penticton at just under two a day, and declined in the South Okanagan from five to three a day.

The uptick in COVID-19 cases in greater Kelowna came after several weeks of steady decline in reports of new daily infections.

In early December, about 50 people a day were testing positive for COVID-19 in Kelowna, West Kelowna, Lake Country and Peachland.

From early 2020 until Jan. 9, 2021, 58,655 people in B.C. had tested positive for COVID-19, of whom 3,291 required treatment in hospital. To that point in the pandemic, 1,012 people had died.