Vancouver Island adds 5 new COVID-19 cases, 22 now active

Victoria -

Provincial health officials identified five new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Island region Friday.

The cases were among 112 new cases found across British Columbia over the past 24 hours.

There are currently 603 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, including 22 active cases in the Island Health region, according to the B.C health ministry’s final update of the week.

Since the pandemic began, 148,842 cases of COVID-19 have been reported across the province, including 5,208 found in the Vancouver Island region.

There are currently two patients in hospital with COVID-19 in the island region, but no one in critical care.

Island Health officials identified the locations of 21 active cases in the region Friday, including 15 in the South Island, four in the Central Island and two in the North Island.

Four more deaths related to the disease were reported in B.C. on Friday. Two deaths were recorded in the Interior, while one was recorded in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and one in the Fraser Health region.

Since the pandemic began, 1,767 people have died of COVID-19 in B.C., including 41 people in the Island Health region.

Health officials say 80.3 per cent of British Columbians aged 12 and older have now received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 58.1 per cent have received two doses.

The province has administered 6,422,503 doses of COVID-19 vaccine since December.