VICTORIA -- Provincial health officials identified 12 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Island region Tuesday.
The new cases were among 411 cases found across British Columbia over the past 24 hours.
The province has now confirmed 140,075 cases since the pandemic began, including 4,953 in the Vancouver Island region.
Two more people in B.C. have died of COVID-19, health officials announced Tuesday, bringing the province’s pandemic death toll to 1,650.
One of the deaths announced Tuesday was in the Vancouver Island region, where the pandemic has killed 40 people.
There are currently 170 active cases of COVID-19 in the island region, including 13 people in hospital and three more in critical care.
Island Health identified the locations of 119 active cases Tuesday, including 44 in the South Island, 48 in the Central Island and 27 in the North Island.
The province has now administered 2,566,936 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, including 131,837 secondary doses.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a statement Tuesday the province is looking to accelerate delivery of second doses for all British Columbians due to a “large, steady vaccine supply.”
“We’re monitoring this closely and will have more to share in early June,” Henry and Dix said of the vaccine acceleration plan. “The more people who get vaccinated, the safer we all are, which is why we want to break the record books on immunizations in our province.”
