VICTORIA -- B.C. health officials announced 46 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, bringing the province’s total number of cases to 4,111 since the pandemic began.

No new deaths were recorded in B.C. over the past 24 hours, leaving the province’s death toll at 195, said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix in a written statement.

There are now 472 active cases of COVID-19 across the province, an increase of 27 since Monday.

Of those cases, eight people are in hospital for treatment, five of whom require critical care.

No new health-care or community outbreaks appeared in B.C. over the past 24 hours, say health officials.

However, eight health-care outbreaks are ongoing across the province, including seven in long-term care or assisted living facilities and one at an acute-care facility. All of the outbreaks are located in the province’s Lower Mainland.

Meanwhile, health officials say that while no new community outbreaks have appeared, multiple community exposure events continue to be seen in B.C.

Most of these exposure events are located in the Vancouver Coastal Health and Interior Health regions, as well as on flights in and out of the province.

“Alerts are posted on the BC Centre for Disease Control’s website, as well as on health authority websites, providing details on where the potential exposure occurred and what actions you need to take – whether you need to immediately self-isolate or monitor for symptoms,” said Dix and Henry.

As the number of daily COVID-19 cases continues to rise in B.C., health officials say that contact tracing efforts are underway across the province.

Henry and Dix ask that British Columbians continue to practise physical distancing, stay home if feeling unwell and have a designated "contact keeper" if they go to social gatherings or eat at restaurants.

Contact tracing is one of the most important tools for limiting the spread of COVID-19 by breaking chains of transmission, say health officials.

“Every case is followed up and linked,” said Dix and Henry.

“The number of people we see self-isolating from the past few days reflects the work that public-health teams are doing tracing people around the province to prevent the spread and stop outbreaks.”

Health officials say that keeping community transmission low will be key to helping schools reopen safely this fall.

“What we do each day protects us, our families and friends and our communities,” said the pair.

The majority of B.C.’s COVID-19 cases continue to be found in the Lower Mainland. Since the pandemic began, the Fraser Health region has reported 2,167 cases while the Vancouver Coastal Health region has confirmed 1,232.

Elsewhere in the province, the Interior Health region has seen 393 cases and the Northern Health region has reached 100 cases.

The Island Health region has reported 148 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, marking no new cases over the past 24 hours.

A total of 3,444 people have recovered from the virus in B.C.