Vancouver Island adds 13 new COVID-19 cases in final update of the week
B.C. Health officials say 13 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the Vancouver Island region Friday.
The new cases are among 180 cases found across the province over the past 24 hours.
In a rare turn, more cases were found in the Vancouver Island region than the Vancouver Coastal Health region on Friday.
Island Health reported 13 new cases, Vancouver Coastal reported 11, Fraser Health added 107 new cases, Interior Health reported 39 and Northern Health identified 10 new cases over the past 24 hours.
B.C. has now reported 146,176 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, including 5,120 found in the Vancouver Island region.
There are currently 83 active cases of COVID-19 in the island region, according to the BCCDC. Of those cases, two people are in hospital for treatment, neither of whom require critical care.
Island Health identified the locations of 56 of the active cases Friday, including 37 in the South Island, 11 in the Central Island and eight in the North Island.
Health officials say one person has died of the virus Friday, bringing the province's death toll to 1,730. The victim did not live in the island region, where 41 people have died since the pandemic began.
"Our condolences are with the family, friends and caregivers of the people who have died as a result of COVID-19," said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix in a joint statement.
Roughly three out of four adults in British Columbia have now received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to health officials. Approximately 75.1 per cent of adults have received their first dose, while 73.1 per cent of youth aged 12 and older have received their first dose.
In total, B.C. has administered 3,893,581 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, including 497,932 second doses.
"What we have seen is that getting fully immunized with your first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccine is making the difference, helping to dramatically slow the spread in our communities," said Henry and Dix.
Health officials say that B.C. remains on track to ease restrictions next week, when Step 2 of the province's reopening plan is scheduled to take place on June 15 at the earliest.
"As long as we increase our contacts in a slow and measured way, register and get fully vaccinated, and continue to use our layers of protection, we can confidently move forward with BC’s Restart plan," said Dix and Henry.
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