The number of COVID-19 cases is rising in the South Okanagan Similkameen as Kelowna faces a massive surge.
The Princeton and Keremeos local health areas saw their first new cases in over six weeks, while Penticton saw the most new cases over the week of Aug. 1 to 7.
The Penticton local health area, which includes Kaleden and Naramata, saw 19 new cases.
Summerland and the Southern Okanagan local health areas both saw six new cases.
Keremeos recorded its first two new cases in several weeks, while Princeton recorded one new case over Aug. 1 to 7.
READ MORE: South Okanagan sees COVID-19 cases return as Central Okanagan spikes
The last week of July saw Penticton with just eight new cases, one in Summerland and five in the Southern Okanagan.
Before that, from June 27 to July 17, Penticton had gone without any new cases, followed by two over July 18 to 24.
To the north, cases in the Central Okanagan have continued to skyrocket, rising from 53 over July 11 to 17, to 153 the week after, then to 450 over July 25 to 31, and most recently to 849 new cases.
Interior Health currently accounts for the majority of the new cases of COVID-19 in the province, with most of those cases coming from the Central Okanagan.
Minister of Health Adrian Dix has called for people to get vaccinated as the Interior’s case counts are mostly attributed to the Delta variant.
READ MORE: Health minister urges vaccination as COVID-19 cases rise in B.C. Interior
In addition to appointments for vaccines, which can be booked, there are drop-in clinics that are available in the South Okanagan for those who haven’t been vaccinated yet, or who had their first shot over 49 days earlier.
To make an appointment, register online by visiting the provincial website at www.getvaccinated.gov.bc.ca/ or call 1‑833‑838‑2323.
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