Health officials find 5 new cases of COVID-19 on Vancouver Island

Victoria -

Health officials identified five new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Island region Thursday.

The cases were among 54 new infections confirmed across B.C. over the past 24 hours, according to the health ministry.

The province has now reported 148,282 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, including 5,189 cases in the island region.

There are currently 650 active cases of COVID-19 across the province, including 29 active cases in the Vancouver Island region.

Two people are in hospital with COVID-19 in the island region, and one more is in critical care, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control.

Island Health identified the locations of 28 active cases Thursday, including 15 in the South Island, nine in the Central Island and four in the North Island.

One more person has died of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, ending B.C.'s six-day streak without any deaths related to the disease. 

The province's COVID-19 death toll now stands at 1,761, including 41 people who have died in the Island Health region.

Approximately 79.4 per cent of people aged 12 and older have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in B.C., while 48.6 per cent of people aged 12 and older have received two doses.

Since December 2020, the province has administered 5,942,064 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.