VICTORIA -- Provincial health officials identified 36 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Island region Monday.

The new cases were among 1,360 cases found across British Columbia over the weekend, including 443 on Saturday, 493 on Sunday and 424 on Monday.

The province has now confirmed 139,664 cases since the pandemic began, including 4,941 in the island region.

Fourteen more people in B.C. have died of COVID-19, health officials announced Monday, bringing the province’s pandemic death toll to 1,648. None of the deaths recorded over the weekend occurred in the Vancouver Island region, where the pandemic has killed 39 people.

There are currently 171 active cases in the island region, including 13 people in hospital and four more in critical care.

Island Health identified the locations of 126 active cases Monday, including 48 in the South Island, 50 in the Central Island and 28 in the North Island. 

One of those who died on the weekend was in their 40s and another was in their 50s, while the others were 60 or older, according to provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

As of Monday, every British Columbian adult is eligible to book their first COVID-19 shot if they have registered through the province’s Get Vaccinated website.

“Over 55 per cent of eligible adults, 18 years and over, have now received their first dose of vaccine in British Columbia,” Henry said, adding that approximately three per cent of British Columbians have now received a secondary dose.

Henry said health officials are not yet ready to make changes to existing provincial health restrictions against travel and social gatherings. Current health orders remain in place until at least May 25.

“We can’t be making any changes right now, we can’t be travelling and we can’t be having large gatherings this weekend,” she said. “But after this, we will be able to move on and move ahead.”

Henry said health officials “will be reviewing the number of people vaccinated” and “the level of community transmission over the next few days to determine where we can go from here.”

“There is a plan that we will be presenting to you,” Henry said. “It’s going to be gradually increasing in all different areas over a period of weeks and months.”