The interior remains a hotbed of new COVID-19 cases, leading to shutdown of bars and restaurants and reintroduction of the mask mandate as the weekend sees over 1000 cases but no new deaths. Over a three-day period, B.C. is reporting 1,079 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 152,918 cases in the province: Aug. 6-7: 422 new cases, Aug. 7-8: 364 new cases and Aug. 8-9: 293 new cases. There are currently 3,036 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 148,066 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 68 individuals are in hospital and 20 are in intensive care.

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

VICTORIA – The interior remains a hotbed of new COVID-19 cases, leading to shutdown of bars and restaurants and reintroduction of the mask mandate as the weekend sees over 1000 cases but no new deaths.

As of Monday, Aug. 9, 82.0% (3,801,960) of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 70.3% (3,257,931) have received their second dose.

In addition, 82.9% (3,585,467) of all eligible adults in B.C. have received their first dose and 72.2% (3,121,816) have received their second dose.

Over a three-day period, B.C. is reporting 1,079 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 152,918 cases in the province:

* Aug. 6-7: 422 new cases

* Aug. 7-8: 364 new cases

* Aug. 8-9: 293 new cases

There are currently 3,036 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 148,066 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 68 individuals are in hospital and 20 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.

The new/active cases include:

* 258 new cases in Fraser Health
* Total active cases: 586

* 142 new cases in Vancouver Coastal Health
* Total active cases: 387

* 587 new cases in Interior Health
* Total active cases: 1,755

* 30 new cases in Northern Health
* Total active cases: 108

* 62 new cases in Island Health
* Total active cases: 188

* no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada
* Total active cases: 12

In the past 72 hours, five new deaths have been reported, for an overall total of 1,777.

The new deaths include:

* Interior Health: four

* Northern Health: one

There are seven active outbreaks in:

* long-term care: Holyrood Manor; Kin Village West Court (Fraser Health); Nelson Jubilee Manor; Kootenay Street Village; Cottonwoods Care Centre; Brookhaven Care Centre (Interior Health); and Discovery Harbour (Island Health).

* acute care: none

* assisted or independent living: none

Since December 2020, the Province has administered 7,067,738 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.

To help address community outbreaks and increased cases of the virus among people who have only one dose of the vaccine, the Province will begin offering second-dose appointments at an earlier interval, based on vaccine and appointment availability.

Currently, invitations for the second dose go to people 49 days after their first dose. The Province is transitioning toward offering second-dose vaccinations for people as early as 28 days after their first dose.

Starting this evening, Monday, Aug. 9, invitations to book second-dose appointments will be sent, based on the new 28-day minimum interval. This timeframe will be the same for those who received Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca for their first dose.

Receiving a second dose earlier is particularly important in high-transmission communities. The recommendation from public health for those not living or working in high-transmission communities continues to be to wait six to eight weeks after the first dose to receive the second dose.

Every person is recommended to get fully vaccinated with two doses of COVID-19 vaccine to protect themselves, their loved ones and their community.