VICTORIA -- B.C. health officials identified five cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Island region Friday, capping off a week of single-digit daily case counts in the health authority.
The new cases were among 317 cases found across the province over the past 24 hours.
B.C. has now reported 143,581 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, including 5,041 found in the Vancouver Island region.
There are currently 121 active cases of COVID-19 in the island region, including 11 people in hospital and one person in critical care.
Island Health identified the locations of 83 of the active cases Friday, including 32 in the South Island, 32 in the Central Island and 19 in the North Island.
Health officials say two more people died of the virus Friday, bringing the province's pandemic death toll to 1,692. No deaths were reported in the Vancouver Island region, where 40 people have died since the pandemic began.
B.C. has now administered 3,106,269 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, including 160,885 second doses.
The total equates to roughly 67.2 per cent of B.C.'s adult population, or 62.7 per cent of those aged 12 and older, according to health officials.
Earlier Friday, Island Health announced more than 500,000 people in the region had received their first dose of vaccine, or roughly 65 per cent of people aged 12 or older.
"This has been a milestone week in B.C.’s COVID-19 pandemic response," said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix in a joint statement Friday.
"Our restart plan began, our surgical renewal strategy resumed and we have started the accelerated delivery of second doses to people throughout the province," said the pair.
However, health officials stress that B.C. is still in the first step of its four-step reopening plan.
"The virus is still spreading with new cases and clusters, which is why using our layers of protection and getting vaccinated – especially in this time of transition – is so important," said Dix and Henry.
