VICTORIA -- B.C. health officials announced 269 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the provinces total to 5,184 cases since the pandemic began.

The cases were recorded over a 72-hour period. Between Friday and Saturday 109 cases were discovered, between Saturday and Sunday 81 were found and between Sunday and Monday 79 new cases were confirmed.

One new death related to the virus was also seen over the weekend, bringing the province’s death toll to 203.

There are now 913 active cases of COVID-19 across the province, including 18 people who are in hospital for treatment, six of whom require critical care.

Meanwhile, 2,594 people across B.C. have been ordered to self-isolate due to possible exposure to the virus.

One new health-care outbreak was discovered over the weekend at a long-term care facility in the Fraser Health region.

The new outbreak brings the total number of health-care outbreaks to 10, nine of which are located at long-term or assisted living facilities. The tenth outbreak is located in an acute care hospital unit.

No new community outbreaks appeared over the weekend, though community exposure events continue to be seen.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Monday that despite a growing number of COVID-19 cases, the virus’s positivity rate in B.C. “remains low.”

“Right now, we are staying in the range where we need to be,” she said.

However, B.C.’s top doctor added that more can be done by individuals to limit the spread of COVID-19, including physical distancing and contact record keeping.

“We need to detect new cases as quickly as possible,” she said, stressing that contact tracing is a crucial tool in helping limit coronavirus transmission.

“Despite the recent outbreaks and clusters that we have seen, and the rise in case numbers, we still have (case detection) in our province,” said Henry. She said that public health teams would be more worried about the recent rise in cases if the source of each case was not being found.

Health Minister Adrian Dix added that British Columbians should continue to follow basic health measures.

“When case counts rise I think its’ true for all of us not to finger point, not to blame, not to worry but to recommit ourselves to the actions that we have shown can limit the spread of COVID-19,” he said. 

While B.C. announced new fines for hosting parties during the COVID-19 pandemic last week, health officials say they are more interested in managing the virus rather than shutting down gatherings or businesses.

“We need to figure out how to do all that we want to do in our society for the next year, or maybe even longer,” said Henry.

She added that the province was much more confident in its COVID-19 safety measures now rather than when the pandemic began because health officials now know more about the virus.

“We didn’t know how much it was circulating in March and April,” said Henry.

Now, B.C.’s top doctor says the province knows more about how the virus behaves and is transmitted, and health officials have been able to find which health measures have been the most effective, like physical distancing.

She added that having businesses and restaurants create their own COVID-19 safety plans has helped control virus transmission.

Most COVID-19 cases have been located in B.C.’s Lower Mainland, with 1,651 found in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and 2,739 recorded in the Fraser Health region since the pandemic began.

Meanwhile, the Island Health region has seen 166 cases of COVID-19, an increase of six since Friday.

Elsewhere in the province, the Interior Health region has reported 425 cases and the Northern Health region has reported 127 since the pandemic began.

A total of 4,068 people have recovered from COVID-19 in B.C.