Photo: Darren Handschuh

Two of the province's four COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours were residents of Vernon's Noric House care home.

The two new local deaths bring the total COVID-19 deaths in the Interior to 68. Of these, 47 have been residents of long-term care homes.

“Sadly, we are reporting two more COVID-related deaths at Noric House long-term care home in Vernon and I want to offer condolences to the families and caregivers during this difficult time,” said IH CEO Susan Brown in a statement.

“Our daily case numbers continue to be high and we ask everyone to do their part in slowing the spread of COVID-19. It’s crucial we keep our close contacts to our immediate households and avoid any unnecessary travel right now.”

There were 83 new cases of the virus identified in the Interior in the past 24 hours, and a new cluster of cases has been declared in the Fernie area. Since the beginning of the year, 81 people in the Fernie region have tested positive, and 63 cases are currently active.

There remains COVID-19 outbreaks declared at six Interior care homes:

• Brocklehurst Gemstone in Kamloops – 16 residents and seven staff, two deaths
• Sunnybank in Oliver – 27 residents and 10 staff, five deaths
• Creekside Landing in Vernon – 24 residents and 13 staff, one death
• Noric House in Vernon – 37 residents (one new) and 26 staff (one new), eight deaths (two new)
• Heritage Square in Vernon – 47 residents and 21 staff, eight deaths
• Heritage Retirement Residence in West Kelowna – 41 residents and five staff, three deaths

Other than two new cases amongst a staff member and resident at Noric House, there were no new cases at any of the other long-term care home outbreaks since Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the outbreak at Kamloops' Royal Inland Hospital has grown to 66 cases, with 23 patients and 43 staff testing positive. One person connected to the outbreak died over the weekend.

The outbreak at Cariboo Memorial Hospital has grown by one case, to 14 staff members.