Vancouver Island adds 82 COVID-19 cases; new outbreak declared

Victoria -

Provincial health officials identified 82 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Island region in their final update of the week Friday.

The new cases were among 584 cases found across B.C. over the past 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.

There are currently 4,982 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C., including 603 active cases in the island region.

Island Health data identified the locations of 520 active cases Friday, including 140 in the South Island, 324 in the Central Island and 56 in the North Island.

Nine more COVID-19 deaths were recorded in B.C. on Friday, including two deaths in the Vancouver Island region. Three other deaths were recorded in the Fraser Health region, and two each were recorded in the Vancouver Coastal and Northern Health regions.

Since the pandemic began, 2,156 people have died of the illness in B.C., including 91 deaths in the Island Health region.

As of Friday, 58 people are in hospital with COVID-19 in the Island Health region, including 26 patients in critical care, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control.

NEW OUTBREAK ON VANCOUVER ISLAND

A new COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre, the Health Ministry announced Friday.

The ministry did not provide details on the number of cases at the Saanich, B.C. correctional centre. It is currently the only active outbreak on Vancouver Island. 

Approximately 89.8 per cent of eligible British Columbians have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 85 per cent have received two doses.

In total, the province has administered 8,218,844 doses of COVID-19 vaccine since it began its vaccination campaign in December.