B.C. continues to see exponential COVID-19 case growth compared to the start of July, with 185 new cases reported today.

Interior Health, and mainly Kelowna, continue to be the epicentre for the swift rise in cases. There were 113 new cases in the Interior today, with this update coming two hours after health officials declared an outbreak from the virus in the Central Okanagan.

There are now 503 active cases in Interior Health, which makes up close to 15 per cent of B.C.’s population. The other four health authorities combined have just 401 active cases.

In B.C., there are now 909 active cases, when adding five active cases among residents who typically reside outside of Canada.

Hospitalizations are now at 47, with 20 of those people in intensive care units. Despite the rise in cases over the past two weeks, hospitalizations have stayed relatively the same this month.

There were also three new deaths from the virus today, all of which were in Vancouver Coastal Health.

When it comes to vaccines, 80.9 per cent of all residents aged 12 and older have gotten a first dose and 63.2 per cent of those people are fully vaccinated.

There have now been 6,685,982 vaccine doses administered, which is 48,741 more doses than Tuesday. Interior Health reported yesterday that it had administered its one-millionth dose of the vaccine to residents in the region.