COVID-19 cases on the rise

COVID-19 cases are up in both Interior Health and British Columbia.

The Health Ministry reported 752 new cases in B.C. Wednesday, up from the 593 on Tuesday, while Interior Health (IH) had 164 new infections, an increase of 36 from the day before.

Total active cases in IH were at 1,142, a decrease of nine.

Provincially, there are 5,945 active cases with 350 people in hospital and 136 in intensive care.

Nine new COVID-related deaths have been reported since Tuesday, for an overall total of 1,992.

Five of the fatalities are in Fraser Health, three in Vancouver Coastal Health and one in Island Health.

As of today, 88.4 per cent of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 81.9 per cent have had two doses.

There has been one new health-care facility outbreak at Mission Memorial Hospital (Fraser Health). The outbreaks at The Hamlets at Westsyde (Interior Health) and Louis Brier Home and Hospital (Vancouver Coastal Health) have been declared over, for a total of 18 active outbreaks.

Update on Interior Health outbreaks:

· Cottonwoods Care Centre long-term care in Kelowna has 53 cases: 41 residents and 12 staff, with six deaths connected to the outbreak.

· Joseph Creek Village long-term care in Cranbrook has 15 cases: nine residents and six staff, with two deaths connected to the outbreak.

· Overlander Long-Term Care in Kamloops has 25 cases: 19 residents and six staff with two deaths connected to the outbreak.

· Village by the Station long-term care in Penticton has 24 cases: 16 residents and eight staff with one death connected to the outbreak.

· Royal Inland Hospital unit 6N in Kamloops has two patient cases.