VICTORIA -- Vancouver Island health officials identified eight new cases of COVID-19 over the past week, but active cases on the island are declining.
There are 14 active cases of the coronavirus in the Island Health region as of Tuesday morning, down from 17 cases last Tuesday, Oct. 13.
The region has now recorded 243 cases since the pandemic began, up from 220 on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Seven of the current active cases are in the South Island region, while seven more active cases are in the Central Island. There are no longer any active cases in the North Island, where there had been three active cases last week.
Since the pandemic began, a total of 93 cases have been found in the South Island, which includes Greater Victoria, the Saanich Peninsula, Port Renfrew and the Southern Gulf Islands, including four new cases added over the past week.
Over the same period, the Central Island region also recorded four more cases, for a current total of 77 cases since the pandemic began.
The North Island, which spans Courtenay-Comox to Port Hardy, has identified 73 cases of COVID-19, with no increase since last week.
A total of 88,919 coronavirus tests have been administered by Island Health, with more than 6,800 new tests completed since Oct. 13.
Six people in the Vancouver Island region have died of the virus and 223 people are now considered recovered after 11 recoveries were recorded in the past week.
No one in the region is currently hospitalized with the virus.
Health officials identified 499 new cases of COVID-19 across the province over the weekend, including three new cases in the Island Health region.
Two more people died of the virus over the weekend – one in the Fraser Health region and one in the Vancouver Coastal Health region – bringing the province’s death toll to 253.
