Five new active cases of the COVID-19 virus have been identified in British Columbia over the past 24 hours, but there have been no new virus-related deaths. 

In addition to the new cases, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry also reported four new "epidemiology-linked" cases in the Vancouver Island and Vancouver Coastal Health regions. These people have since recovered from the virus, but had not been tested when they initially came down with the disease. 

The new cases bring the total cases in the province to 2,632, but just 201 active cases remain. No new cases have been identified in the Interior Health region, where 195 cases have been confirmed. As of Wednesday, there are no active cases of the virus in the entire region. 

Dr. Henry noted that a number of Wednesday's 22 new cases of the virus were related to an individual who attended a family gathering and inadvertently spread the disease to a number of family members. 

"Those closest to us are most at risk," she added. 

There are now 26 COVID-19 hospitalizations in the province, six of whom are in ICU. 

There have been no new virus-related deaths in B.C., where a total of 166 people have died from the virus at this time. 

Dr. Henry also announced a new community outbreak at Burnaby's Beresford Warming Centre, a shelter where three people have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

No new outbreaks at healthcare facilities have been identified. 

To date, 2,265 people have fully recovered from the virus in the province. 

Photo: Castanet News