PROVINCIAL Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix on Monday announced 2,491 new COVID-19 cases since Friday, for a total of 126,249 cases in British Columbia.

They said: “Today, we are reporting on three periods: from April 23 to 24, we had 881 new cases, from April 24 to 25, we had 847 new cases and in the last 24 hours, we had a further 763 new cases.

There have been 17 new COVID-19-related deaths, for a total of 1,571 deaths in the province.

There are 8,199 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 12,340 people under public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases. A further 116,241 people who tested positive have recovered.

Of the active cases, 484 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 158 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.

There have been 466 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 1,632 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 82 in the Island Health region, 206 in the Interior Health region, 104 in the Northern Health region and one new case of a person who resides outside of Canada.

There has been one new health-care outbreak at Orchard Haven (Interior).

Henry and Dix said: “1,635,372 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 89,035 of which are second doses.

“We encourage everyone to register on the Get Vaccinated website – whether they are getting their vaccine as part of the age-based program, worker program or at their local pharmacy. Everyone 18 years and older is now eligible to register for their vaccine.

“We all need to stay within our local community and not travelling for recreation or vacation between or within the three regional zones set out in the non-essential travel order.

“Any travel to another community for anything that is not essential puts you, your family and the communities you are visiting at risk.

“Communities – especially smaller communities with limited health-care services – are asking for your support and assistance to slow the spread of COVID-19 by staying away, even if it is to go to a second home.

“Let’s stay close to home and follow all the provincial health and public safety orders all the time. Let’s always use our safety layers and get vaccinated as soon as we are eligible. This is what will help us reduce the burden on our health-care system and get us closer to a better summer.”