'Be assured we are on the right path': 10 new cases of COVID-19 found in Vancouver Island region
Health officials say 10 more cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the Vancouver Island region Wednesday.
The new cases were among 148 cases found across the province over the past 24 hours.
B.C. has now reported 145,843 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, including 5,096 found in the Vancouver Island region.
There are currently 65 active cases of COVID-19 in the island region, according to the BCCDC, including three people in hospital – none of whom require critical care.
Island Health identified the locations of 41 of the active cases Wednesday, including 24 in the South Island, eight in the Central Island and nine in the North Island.
Three more people have died of COVID-19 in the province, according to health officials, bringing B.C.'s pandemic death toll to 1,725. None of the victims lived in the island region, where 41 people have died since the pandemic began.
"Our condolences are with the family, friends and caregivers of the people who have died as a result of COVID-19," said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix in a joint statement.
Approximately 74.5 per cent of all adults in B.C. have now received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, or roughly 72.4 per cent of people aged 12 and older.
In total, the province has administered 3,749,758 doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of Wednesday, including 390,264 second doses.
"Canada has some of the highest Dose 1 immunization levels in the world and British Columbia is equally strong," said Dix and Henry.
"As we progress towards step two of BC’s Restart plan, we can be assured we are on the right path, and with every person who is fully vaccinated, we are all safer," said the pair.
B.C. is set to move to the second step of its reopening plan on June 15 at the earliest.
While health officials have said that B.C. will not reopen ahead of schedule even if vaccination rates are high and case counts are low, they have reiterated that the province is so far on track for moving onto the second reopening step next week.
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