Photo: BC gov. Flickr

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry

After a brief dip in active cases Tuesday, COVID-19 cases in British Columbia have once again risen, with 1,168 new cases announced Wednesday, 105 of which came from the Interior.

The new cases bring the total positive tests since the beginning of the pandemic to 114,870, and there are now 9,821 active cases in the province. Active cases rose by 65 since Tuesday.

There are now 397 people hospitalized with the disease in the province – up by by 20 since Tuesday. Of the people being treated in hospital, 120 are being treated in ICU.

There are 944 active cases of the virus in the Interior. Of these, 22 people are hospitalized, nine of whom are in ICU. To date, 120 Interior residents have died from COVID-19.

Another 16,304 people across the province are self-isolating after coming into contact with a COVID-positive person.

Six more British Columbians have died from COVID-19, bringing the total deaths in the province to 1,521.

There were 41,839 doses of the COVID vaccine administered in the last day, for a total of 1,190,832 doses, 87,820 of which were second doses.

British Columbians 64 and older, Indigenous people 18 and older and those who've received their “clinically extremely vulnerable” letters are eligible to book their Pfizer or Moderna vaccination, while those between 55 and 65 can book their AstraZeneca vaccine through local pharmacies.

The province has not provided any data on the prevalence of COVID-19 “variants of concerns” this week, but on Monday, Dr. Bonnie Henry said about half of all new cases are now linked to variants.

Photo: Castanet News