COVID-19 checkup: Here's where Vancouver Island's cases have been found

VICTORIA -- Vancouver Island has recorded 148 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, adding a single new case over the weekend.

Only three of those coronavirus cases were active as of Tuesday morning, and no one is in hospital with the virus in the Island Health region, according to the latest data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

Since the beginning of July, the Island Health region has recorded three COVID-19 cases linked to international travel and two linked to community exposure events.

Northern Vancouver Island has been the epicentre of coronavirus transmission in the Island Health region since the pandemic began, with the bulk of the island's cases found in the vast and rugged area stretching from Courtenay-Comox to Port Hardy.

A total of 60 cases of COVID-19 have been found in the North Island region. Island Health reported Monday that it had been five days since the last detected onset of COVID-19 symptoms in a patient in the northern region.

The more densely populated South Island region, which includes the Greater Victoria area, Port Renfrew and the Southern Gulf Islands, has recorded 50 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

The South Island had gone 23 days since the latest onset of symptoms, according to health data published Monday.

The Central Vancouver Island has fared better, recording only 38 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. The region, which includes the communities of Tofino, Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Parksville, Lake Cowichan and Duncan, had not recorded a symptom onset for nine days as of Monday.

Of the 148 cases of COVID-19 recorded in the Island Health region, 144 were confirmed by laboratory testing, while four were epidemiologically linked, meaning no COVID-19 test was administered.

Five people have died of the virus in the Island Health region, while 140 people have fully recovered.

Health authorities have administered 42,307 COVID-19 tests in the Vancouver Island region since the pandemic began.

British Columbia has recorded 4,065 cases of COVID-19 during the pandemic, with 195 of them proving fatal.