VICTORIA -- B.C. health officials announced 13 new cases of COVID-19 in a live update Tuesday.

The update brings B.C.’s total number of coronavirus cases to 3,128 since the pandemic began.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said that no new deaths related to the virus were recorded over the past 24 hours, leaving the province’s overall death toll at 189.

There remain 209 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, including 14 people in hospital, five of whom are in critical care.

No new outbreaks have appeared in the province’s health-care system, though three outbreaks are ongoing.

Two of the outbreaks are in long-term care homes, while one outbreak is active at an acute-care facility.

Henry said no new outbreaks have appeared in the community since Monday, though she is reminding British Columbians that community exposure events did arise over the weekend, largely in the province’s Interior.

One exposure happened at the Krazy Cherry Fruit Co. farm in Oliver, B.C., where two COVID-19 cases were recorded.

However, B.C.’s top doctor noted that health officials are working to manage the outbreak, and that there is little to no risk of COVID-19 exposure from cherries picked at the farm.

“I would remind people that we don’t have any evidence of transmission from the packaging of food, but we should always wash our food,” she said.

Other community exposure events occurred in the Kelowna area over the weekend. Some of the exposures are linked to private parties.

Henry is reminding British Columbians to practise fundamental health measures, like physical distancing, regular hand washing and avoiding crowded and indoor spaces as much as possible.

“If it’s a house party, you may not know everyone who’s there and you may not know what risks they bring,” she said.

“Be aware of the risks you’re exposing yourself to and the ones close to you.”

While more than 60 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in B.C. over the weekend, health officials say British Columbia is still in a strong position to reopen safely.

“We’ve had more (cases) than we’re used to seeing over the past few days,” said Henry.

However, B.C.’s top doctor said that each case is being actively managed and monitored by health authorities, and that contact tracing is underway.

“It’s not unexpected and we do know where those cases come from,” she said.

Henry says that strong contact tracing can keep cases “to a manageable level” by making sure that clusters don’t spread throughout the community, as B.C. continues to restart its economy.

“If it was 25 cases that were popping up in the community that weren’t linked, that would be more worrisome,” said Henry. “But many of these cases are linked. This is going to be our dance for the next few months.” 

Most COVID-19 cases have been located in the province’s Lower Mainland. Since the pandemic began, the Fraser Health region has reported 1,649 cases while the Vancouver Coastal Health region has seen 1,015.

Elsewhere in the province, the Island Health region has confirmed 135 cases, the Interior Health region has reported 212 and the Northern Health region has seen 65.

A total of 2,730 people have recovered from COVID-19 in B.C. since the pandemic began.