Canada has officially lost its measles elimination status, Health Canada announced Monday, with cases continuing to climb across the country including, notably, in northeast B.C.
That’s where all nine of B.C.’s currently active cases are clustered, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s (BCCDC) latest report. It’s also where 273 of the province’s 360 confirmed and probable measles cases for all of 2025 have come from.
Across Canada, B.C.’s total makes up about seven per cent of the more than 5,100 cases reported since the start of the year.
Ontario has seen the greatest outbreak with 2,393 cases, followed by Alberta with 1,946 cases.
There were 29 new confirmed and probable measles cases reported in B.C. between Oct. 30 and Nov. 6, according to the BCCDC.
Dr. Brian Conway, medical director of the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre, said while Canadians have often caught measles abroad, what’s new over the last year is that the disease is being transmitted locally.
The loss of the measles-free status should be a wake-up call, Conway said.
“This is unfortunate and was completely avoidable,” he said. “This relates to a reduction in the rate of vaccination in Canada.”
Conway said the measles vaccination is safe and effective and led to measles being declared eliminated in Canada.
“We need to vaccinate. There’s some parts of Canada where the vaccination rate is 50 per cent or perhaps lower. We need to get back to the 80 or 90 per cent that we had for so many years.”
Conway said measles is “terribly contagious.”
In most cases, it is a “very benign disease,” but it can lead to a brain or lung infection or even death, Conway said.
He added he hopes next year the country can recover its measles-free status, which would require there being no domestic transmission for 12 months.
Most B.C. cases in northeast region
B.C.’s measles cases have been mostly clustered in and around Fort St. John in northeastern B.C.
Since an outbreak began in May, 286 confirmed and probable cases have been recorded by Northern Health, according the BCCDC — almost 80 per cent of B.C.’s total 360 cases for the year.
There are currently nine active cases in the region.
Health officials say the virus continues to spread quickly through unvaccinated families and believe the true number of infections is likely higher than reported.
While vaccination rates in the Peace region surged over the summer, they’ve slowed since the start of the school year.
In July, B.C.’s deputy provincial health officer, Dr. Martin Lavoie, told CBC News that a pocket of unvaccinated children in the northeast region has allowed cases of measles to spread “like wildfire.”
Multiple exposures were reported in and around Fort St. John, including at an elementary school, emergency room and prenatal clinic.
Measles is also circulating in the Dawson Creek area, according to the BCCDC.
A full list of exposure locations can be found here.
Around 74 cases have been reported across all other BC. health authorities in 2025, but there are currently no active cases reported outside of northeastern B.C.
CBC News has reached out to the ministry and the BCCDC for comment.
There have been no measles-associated deaths reported in B.C. this year, according to the BCCDC.