VANCOUVER - The suspected overdose deaths of 11 people last week in Vancouver has set what the mayor calls a "ghastly" death-count record for 2018.

The city says the week of July 23 was the worst on record this year for suspected overdose deaths based on statistics from the police department.

So far in 2018, 206 people have died in Vancouver from suspected overdoses.

The latest overdose statistics for the province show there was a dip in the number of suspected illicit drug deaths in June compared with the same month a year earlier.

There were 105 illicit drug overdose deaths across B.C. in June, a drop from 123 in the same month last year.

Mayor Gregor Robertson called last week's death count for the city "simply ghastly" in a news release.