Nanaimo saw the most new COVID-19 cases on the Island last week

Nanaimo is again Vancouver Island’s hot spot for COVID-19 cases, although with fewer new cases than this time last month.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control released data Wednesday on new COVID-19 cases by local health area, showing new cases for the week of Feb. 28-March 6.

Greater Nanaimo moved back to the top of the list of local health areas on the Island with the most new cases, with 50. Cowichan Valley South, which been the hot spot for new cases for the two previous weeks, had 35 new cases last week. Greater Victoria was next with 27 cases.

Nanaimo was the Island’s hot spot for cases the first two weeks of February, with the area showing 94 new cases the first week of February. Since then, Nanaimo’s weekly case counts have been 57, 32, 51 and now 50.

BCCDC data shows that of the 20 new COVID-19 cases in Island Health reported Wednesday, 11 were on the central Island, five were on the north Island and four were on the south Island. The number of active COVID-19 cases has declined each day this week and Island Health says there are now 202 active COVID-19 cases on Vancouver Island, with 110 of those cases on the central Island, 48 on the south Island and 44 on the north Island.

Island Health and other health authorities are embarking on mass immunizations, with appointments ahead of schedule and immunizations set to start Monday, March 8.

“With each person who is immunized, it means our friends and loved ones are safer and we are all closer to putting COVID-19 behind us,” said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix in a joint statement Wednesday.

B.C. vaccine rollout: Seniors aged 85+ can register for COVID immunization Thursday https://t.co/UH3PyL2vZi

— Nanaimo Bulletin (@NanaimoBulletin) March 11, 2021