VICTORIA -- Health officials have identified 23 new cases of COVID-19 on Vancouver Island.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix announced the new cases in a joint statement Tuesday afternoon.
The cases were among 435 new cases identified across B.C. since Monday, bringing the provincial total to 71,387 cases since the pandemic began.
Four more people in B.C. died of the disease Tuesday, bringing the provincial death toll to 1,263.
None of those deaths Tuesday were on Vancouver Island, where the pandemic has killed 20 people so far.
There are now 272 active COVID-19 cases on Vancouver Island, including 22 people in hospital and seven people in critical care.
Island Health officials have publicly identified the locations of 235 active cases Tuesday. Most of them – 162 – are in the Central Island region, while 64 are in the South Island and nine are in the North Island.
There have been 1,892 cases of COVID-19 on Vancouver Island since the pandemic began.
Health officials have administered 155,585 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, including 12,802 secondary doses.
“We are making progress in our efforts to push back on the COVID-19 virus and get to the days of fewer restrictions in our province,” said Dix and Henry. “We can keep this positive, forward momentum going and help keep our province safe through the small efforts we make every day.”
