VICTORIA -- Health officials identified 88 new cases of COVID-19 and one new death on Vancouver Island over the weekend.
The new cases were among 1,478 cases found across B.C. since Friday, bringing the provincial total to 80,672 cases since the pandemic began.
Eight more people died of COVID-19 in B.C. over the weekend, bringing the provincial death toll to 1,363.
The Vancouver Island region has recorded 2,403 cases of COVID-19 and 26 deaths from the disease since the pandemic began.
There are currently 324 active cases of COVID-19 in the island region, including 17 people in hospital and three in critical care.
Island Health has identified the locations of 303 active cases, including 188 in the Central Island, 71 in the North Island and 44 in the South Island.
Health officials on Monday identified 42 new cases that are “variants of concern” in the province, bringing the total number of variant cases in B.C. to 158. Ten of those variant cases are still active, while the remaining people have recovered, according to public health officials.
The province has administered 275,681 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, including 83,777 secondary doses.
There were four new health-care outbreaks reported over the weekend, including one at Glacier View Lodge in Courtenay.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix hailed the start of the second phase of B.C.’s vaccination plan Monday, saying more than 400,000 British Columbians would be immunized against COVID-19 by early April.
