COVID-19: New B.C. cases top 200 for first time since early June

British Columbia’s COVID-19 case numbers continued to trend in the wrong direction Thursday, topping 200 for the first time since June 5.

In a written statement, officials reported 204 cases, bringing the seven-day average for new cases up to 131, a six-week high.There were no additional deaths.

Once again, more than half of the new cases, 107, were in the Interior Health Region, where officials declared an outbreak in the Central Okanagan on Wednesday.

There were 58 cases in the Fraser Health region, 23 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, two in the Northern Health region and 14 in the Island Health region.

As a result, officials also announced restrictions for the region, including a mask mandate for indoor public spaces for everyone 12 years old and up.

2:13 B.C. government imposes new restrictions on Central Okanagan

There were 1,005 active cases, the first time the figure has climbed over 1,000 since June 29.

The number of hospital patients climbed to 51, while the number of people in critical or intensive care was unchanged at 20.

More than 3.75 million people — 81 per cent of those eligible and nearly 73 per cent of B.C.s population — has had one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Of them, more than 2.97 million people — 64.1 per cent of those eligible and nearly 58 per cent of B.C.’s population — has been fully immunized.

Since the start of the pandemic, B.C. has reported 149,648 total cases, while 1,771 people have died.