B.C.’s case count continues to climb with 689 new infections and two new deaths reported Thursday, Aug. 19.
RELATED: B.C. reports 553 new COVID cases, 1 death as new outbreak declared at Site C
Interior Health still leads the province with 278 new infections, followed by Fraser Health with 219, Vancouver Coastal with 123, Island Health with 42, and Northern Health with 27. The two new deaths occurred in Interior Health and Northern Health.
Hospitalizations have also increased. Of the 5,982 active cases in B.C., 121 individuals are in hospital with 56 in intensive care.
There is one new outbreak at the Heritage Village long-term care facility in the Fraser Health region. The outbreak at Discovery Harbour long-term care facility in the Island Health region has been declared over. There are now 11 active outbreaks at long-term care homes in the province.
As cases continue to increase, vaccination rates remain stalled around 82.9 per cent with at least one dose and 74 percent are fully vaccinated.
A recent report from the B.C. COVID-19 Modelling Group says B.C. will need to increase vaccination rates to 90 per cent and enact increased COVID-19 safety protocols to avoid a record surge of new infections in the fall.
RELATED: Experts warn B.C. on track to exceed record highs of new COVID-19 infections come fall
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