VICTORIA -- Health officials recorded 21 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Island region and one new outbreak over the weekend.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced the new cases in a live update Monday.

The Island Health cases were among the 1,667 new cases recorded across B.C. since Friday.

Forty-one people in B.C. died of the disease over the weekend, mostly residents in long-term care homes, Henry said. One of those deaths was on Vancouver Island, Health Minister Adrian Dix said.

Island Health confirmed Monday the death was related to the outbreak at Saanich Peninsula Hospital, where four people have died after contracting the virus. 

The new outbreak on the island was recorded at The Gardens at Qualicum Beach, where one staff member has tested positive for the coronavirus.

“The staff member who tested positive is self-isolating at home,” Island Health said in a statement. “The outbreak is limited to one unit on the third floor of the facility.”

Henry said COVID-19 vaccines have now arrived in every health authority in B.C.

The Pfizer vaccines arrived at nine sites across the province this week, including one site on Vancouver Island.

“It’s still a very limited amount of vaccine,” Henry said. “We’re only getting about 30 trays between now and the first week of January. So it is a small amount to make sure that the delivery system works – that all the things are in place for the clinics to get up and running.” 

Dix said there is “great hope” on the horizon with the arrival of vaccines but urged British Columbians to “dig in” ahead of the holidays to keep the spread of the disease to a minimum.

“We are starting to see a leveling of our COVID-19 curve in B.C. and that is good news,” Henry said. “But it is a leveling at a very high level.”

There are 62 active cases of COVID-19 on Vancouver Island, including 30 cases in the South Island, 22 cases in the Central Island and 10 cases in the North Island.

Five people in the region are in hospital with the virus and one person is in intensive care.

Eleven people in the region have died of COVID-19 and 829 cases have been recorded since the start of the pandemic. Approximately 752 people in Island Health are considered recovered after testing positive for the virus.