Overview
- Preliminary coroner data show January’s toll equals about 4.8 deaths per day across British Columbia.
- Island Health recorded 29 deaths, up from 24 a year earlier, with its monthly rate rising to 3.2 per 100,000.
- Fentanyl or analogues were detected in nearly eight in ten tests, and smoking was the leading mode of consumption for almost three in four decedents.
- Men accounted for about 80% of those who died, with nearly three-quarters aged 30 to 59.
- More than half of deaths occurred in Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health regions, while the highest rates were in Northern Health (58 per 100,000) and Interior Health (40 per 100,000).