B.C.'s contact tracing and testing at maximum capacity, health officials say

B.C.'s public health officials said contact tracing and testing sites are at maximum capacity as the province goes through its worst surge of COVID-19 yet, driven primarily by the more infectious Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus.

Health officials announced 2,046 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, along with one additional death. It marks the third day in a row the province has reported a record-high daily case count. Before this week, the highest daily total was 1,293 cases, reported back in April. Friday's numbers will be released later in the day.

"If you have any symptoms of COVID-19 ... you must assume you have COVID and take measures to avoid passing it on," Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer, said at a Friday news conference.

"Omicron is different ... in a sense, we're in a different game."

Henry said testing should be available for those most at risk as well as health-care workers who need negative tests to work.

She therefore urged people in British Columbia to not seek testing for travel purposes and be proactive with self-isolation if they suspect they have COVID-19.

Those who are fully vaccinated, are not immunocompromised and have mild symptoms, should self-isolate for a week. Those who are not fully vaccinated should self-isolate for 10 days.

Close contacts should self-monitor for symptoms for two weeks, in the absence of contact tracing, and unvaccinated close contacts should self-isolate for 10 days.

The provincial death toll from COVID-19 is now 2,410 lives lost out of 233,217 confirmed cases.

On Thursday, the province conducted 20,133 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, the most ever in a single day in B.C., according to Health Minister Adrian Dix.

With long lines at testing sites, officials said "triage" is occurring in the Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health authorities, with some of those looking to get a PCR test being given a rapid antigen test instead.

"If you are younger and don't have underlying risk factors, particularly if you're vaccinated, then rapid testing may be the most efficient way for you to get what you need," Henry said.

Older people and those who are immunocompromised, as well as younger children, are now being prioritized for PCR tests the gold standard test to confirm or rule out an infection.

Health Minister Adrian Dix defended the province's age-based strategy for rolling out booster doses.