VICTORIA -- Health officials have identified a near-record setting 45 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Island region Wednesday.

The health authority’s daily record of 47 COVID-19 cases was set on Jan. 21. Before that, the previous record was 34 daily cases, set on Jan. 12 and Jan. 15

Across the province, 485 cases of the virus and four deaths related to COVID-19 were recorded over the past 24 hours.

“We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix in a joint statement.

Island Health has now seen 1,538 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

There are currently 220 active case of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Island region, according to the BCCDC. Island Health has identified the approximate locations of 204 of the active cases. The majority, 153, are found in the Central Island, 37 are active in the South Island and 14 are ongoing in the North Island.

Earlier Wednesday, Island Health chief medical health officer Dr. Richard Stanwick said the recent surge of COVID-19 cases on the island was concerning.

He noted that roughly a third of all cases in the region were recorded in the past four weeks alone.

However, he noted that the health authority has had recent successes, such as completely immunizing every long-term care resident that wanted a vaccine earlier this week.

As of Wednesday, 124,365 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered across B.C., including 4,160 second doses.

Health officials noted Wednesday that Jan. 27, 2021 marks one year since the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in B.C.

“One year ago today, the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in our province. Since that day, the impact has been severe; people have become seriously ill and died, our lives have been disrupted and health-care workers everywhere have faced challenges at a scale never experienced before,” said Dix and Henry.

The pair marked the occasion by asking all British Columbians to continue following provincial health orders, such as avoiding events, non-essential travel and other risky activities.

“When we are tired, it is easy to let things slip and let our guard down,” said Henry and Dix.

“Yet this only gives the virus a chance to spread a bit more. In these days – when COVID-19 vaccinations are starting, but for most of us are still weeks or months away – the actions we take may seem small, but will have a big impact to stop the virus in its tracks.”