Vancouver Island adds 13 new COVID-19 cases; active cases hit 65

Victoria -

Health officials identified 13 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Island region Friday as the number of active cases in the region continues to rise.

The new cases are among 243 cases found across British Columbia over the past 24 hours.

There are currently 1,231 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C., including 65 active cases in the island region, according to a statement Friday from the B.C. health ministry.

More than half of the recent cases and active infections are in the Interior Health region, where an outbreak was declared in a central Okanagan care home.

There were no deaths from the disease reported in B.C. on Friday, leaving the province's pandemic death toll at 1,771.

Since the pandemic began, 41 people have died of COVID-19 in the Island Health region, where 5,265 cases have been recorded.

There is currently one person in hospital with COVID-19 in the island region and no one in critical care, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control.

Island Health officials identified the locations of 61 active cases in the island region Friday, including 35 in the South Island, 24 in the Central Island and two in the North Island.

As of Friday, 81.1 per cent of British Columbians aged 12 and older have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 64.9 per cent have received two doses.

B.C. health-care workers have administered 6,774,257 doses of COVID-19 vaccine since the vaccines became available in December.