B.C. reports 536 new COVID-19 infections as active cases top 3,500

Another 536 people have been infected with COVID-19, provincial health officials said Wednesday.

Of the new COVID-19 cases, 258 were in the Interior Health region, 105 were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 135 were in the Fraser Health region, 26 were in Island Health, and 12 were in Northern Health.

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There are now 3,585 active cases of COVID-19 in the province.

The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 climbed by one to 72. Twenty-nine patients are in intensive care, an increase of six from Tuesday.

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In addition, one person has died of the disease, bringing the province’s COVID-19 death toll to 1,778.

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The province said Tuesday that 82.2 per cent of eligible people 12 and older have received their first dose of vaccine, while 71.1 per cent have received two doses.

The seven-day rolling average of B.C.’s positivity rates is 4.3 per cent. In the Interior Health region, it’s 14.2 per cent.

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Officials in the Interior Health region said Wednesday that cases in the central Okanagan continue to trend upwards.

The health authority said 1,690 people in the region have tested positive for COVID-19 since July 1. More than 95 per cent of the cases connected to the outbreak are in people who are not fully immunized and the majority are under the age of 40, Interior Health president and CEO Susan Brown said.

— With files from Doyle Potenteau