Another day of high COVID case counts in B.C. and Interior Health

There seems to be no end in sight to the high daily counts of new COVID-19 cases in B.C. and the Interior Health region.

There were 689 new cases recorded in B.C. in the last 24 hours, with 278 of those in the Interior Health region, according to a Ministry of Health new release issued today, Aug. 19.

READ MORE: Huge record-breaking jump in Interior Health’s COVID numbers: 376 in the last 24 hours

The Fraser Health region is seeing increased numbers with 219 of the new cases while there were 123 in Vancouver Coastal, 42 on Vancouver Island and 27 in the Northern Health region.

There have been two new deaths, including one in Interior Health, bringing the provincial total to 1,784.

Interior Health has 3,368 of the 5,982 active cases in B.C. with 121 people in hospitals throughout the province, 56 of whom are in intensive care.

The vaccination rate has hit 82.9 per cent for people over 12 who have received one dose while 74 per cent of B.C. resident have received a second dose.

READ MORE: All staff in B.C. long term care homes must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 12


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Rob Munro

Rob Munro has a long history in journalism after starting an underground newspaper in Whitehorse called the Yukon Howl in 1980. He spent five years at the 100 Mile Free Press, starting in the darkroom, moving on to sports and news reporting before becoming the advertising manager. He came to Kelowna in 1989 as a reporter for the Kelowna Daily Courier, and spent the 1990s mostly covering city hall. For most of the past 20 years he worked full time for the union representing newspaper workers throughout B.C. He’s returned to his true love of being a reporter with a special focus on civic politics