Vancouver Island adds 71 new COVID-19 cases

Victoria -

British Columbia health officials identified 71 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Island region Thursday.

The cases were among 832 new cases found in B.C. over the past 24 hours, according to data from the provincial Ministry of Health.

Island Health data identified the locations of 567 active cases Thursday, including 330 in the South Island, 190 in the Central Island and 47 in the North Island.

There are now 5,697 active COVID-19 cases in B.C., including 654 active cases in the Vancouver Island region.

Five more people in the province have died from the disease, according to the data.

Since the pandemic began, 1,915 people in B.C. have died of COVID-19, including 59 people in the Island Health region.

Thirty-four people are in hospital with COVID-19 on Vancouver Island, with 21 of them in critical care, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control.

The BCCDC provided its updated numbers before the ministry on Thursday, and the its numbers for new and active cases did not match those released by the ministry.

The BCCDC said the province added 861 new cases on Thursday, including 86 on Vancouver Island. It also gave the active caseload province-wide as 5,726, including 669 on Vancouver Island.

The ministry’s release notes that its numbers are "provisional due to a delayed data refresh and will be verified once confirmed."

As of Thursday, 87.3 per cent of people ages 12 and older in B.C. had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 79.9 per cent of people in that age group had received a second dose.