COVID-19 cases continue to climb in the Interior

Interior Health is now home to 1,151 active COVID-19 cases, up 19 from Monday’s figures.

The increase came as 128 new cases were identified in the region.

The new cases were part of 593 reported provincewide Tuesday, as B.C.’s active case count fell to 5,937.

The Ministry of Health reports that 64.2 per cent of the new cases identified between Sept. 27 and Oct. 3 were in the unvaccinated population, while the fully immunized made up 29.3 per cent.

The province notes that as of Tuesday 345 British Columbians were in hospital due to COVID-19 complications, 144 of whom were in intensive care.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control data shows that in the past two weeks, 69.7 per cent of COVID hospitalizations were unvaccinated individuals, while 21.9 per cent were double dosed.

The province also reports that first-dose vaccination rates for British Columbians age 12 and over rose to 88.3 per cent on Tuesday, while the full vaccination rate climbed to 81.7 per cent.

There were no new deaths linked to the virus reported on Tuesday.

Health-care facility outbreaks in B.C. remained steady at 18 on Tuesday, with five of them located in the Interior after the outbreak at the Hamlets at Westsyde was declared over.

• Cottonwoods Care Centre long-term care in Kelowna: 41 resident cases, 12 staff cases, six deaths
• Joseph Creek Village long-term care in Cranbrook: nine resident cases, six staff cases, two deaths
• Overlander long-term care in Kelowna: 19 resident cases, six staff cases, two deaths
• Village by the Station: 15 resident cases, eight staff cases, one death
• Royal Inland Hospital unit 6N in Kamloops: two patient cases