VICTORIA -- Vancouver Island has recorded 156 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, adding eight new cases since early last week.

There are seven active cases of the coronavirus in the Island Health region as of Tuesday afternoon, with no one in hospital with the virus.

Three of the new cases added since last week are in the Central Vancouver Island region and five are in the Southern Vancouver Island region. 

There have been no island cases linked to international travel in August. Two new cases this month were linked to a previously confirmed case while six others were linked to a community exposure.

The South Island region, which includes the Greater Victoria area, Port Renfrew and the Southern Gulf Islands, has recorded 55 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

The latest case on the South Island was diagnosed five days ago after the region went more than three weeks without a new confirmed case, according to Island Health data.

The Central Vancouver Island region has added three new cases since last week for a total of 41 cases Tuesday. The region includes the communities of Tofino, Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Parksville, Lake Cowichan and Duncan. The most recent case in the Central Island was found 4 days ago.

While the North Island region has recorded the most cases of the virus since the pandemic began, there have been no new cases added in the region over the past 13 days, according to Island health.

There have been 60 cases of the virus in the northern region, which includes the area stretching from Courtenay-Comox to Port Hardy.

No one is in hospital with the virus in the Island Health region Tuesday, according to the latest data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

Of the 156 cases of COVID-19 recorded by Island Health, 152 were confirmed by laboratory testing, while four were epidemiologically linked, meaning no COVID-19 test was administered though the virus was presumed to be present due to the patient's symptoms and contact with a known COVID-19 case.

Five people have died of the virus in the Island Health region, while 144 people have recovered.

Health authorities have administered 45,135 COVID-19 tests in the Vancouver Island region since the pandemic began.

British Columbia has recorded 4,677 cases of COVID-19 and 198 deaths related to the virus.