Another 267 people tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend, B.C.'s health ministry announced through a written statement Monday.
The update covered three days' worth of case data. From Friday to Saturday, 94 tested positive. Another 79 tested positive from Saturday to Sunday. Finally, 94 were confirmed to have the coronavirus between Sunday and Monday.
Taking into account recoveries, active cases rose by 92 over the weekend to 695. Of those, 43 people are in hospital and 17 are intensive care. Everyone else is recovering at home.
Of the latest new cases from the weekend, 5 came from the Northern Health region, more than half – 155 of them – were in the Interior Health region. Forty-eight were in Fraser Health and 41 were in Vancouver Coastal Health. Another 18 positive tests were recorded in Island Health.
As well, the ministry announced one new death in the Northern Health region, connected to the disease. That brought B.C.'s COVID-19-related death toll since the start of the pandemic to 1,768.
The latest positive tests brought B.C.'s seven-day rolling average to 89 and while infection numbers have inched upward since the government relaxed COVID-19 restrictions, they're still a fraction of the alarming highs recorded at the peak of the province's third wave in April. At that point, the rolling average reached 1,130 per day.
As well, in her last presentation on pandemic modelling, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry showed data suggesting B.C. was likely to see an increase in infections as its reopening plan progressed.
As of Monday, 80.6 per cent of eligible B.C. residents aged 12 and older have received their first vaccine against COVID-19. In that same age group, 64.4 per cent have been fully vaccinated.
Since December, 6,584,264 vaccine doses have been distributed province-wide, which is an increase of 161,761 since Friday.
