B.C. health officials are reporting 1,711 new COVID-19 cases over this past weekend, 768 of which were in Interior Health.

There were 724 cases reported on Saturday, 545 on Sunday, and another 442 cases today, August 23.

Active cases across the province are now at 5,056 with 1,930 of those in Interior Health. Across the province, there are 133 people in hospital with COVID-19 (up by four from Friday) with 80 people in intensive care (up by 21 from Friday).

Over the weekend, Fraser Health reported 419 new cases (1,194 active), with another 290 cases in Vancouver Coastal Health (1,223 active), 133 new cases in Island Health (401 active), and 100 new cases in Northern Health (298 active). There was also one new case in a person who lives outside of Canada, with ten total active cases.

There were also 16 new deaths reported this weekend, taking the provincial death toll to 1,801 people. Fourteen of those deaths were in the Interior, though the province says that includes updated reporting of deaths from August 1. There was one death reported in Fraser Health and one in Island Health.

In a statement, Interior Health says one of those deaths today was at the Nicola Meadows care home in Merritt, where there are now seven cases of COVID-19 connected – four in residents and three among staff members.

Further, as announced last week, the province has for the first time also released details on who is testing positive for COVID-19.

Between August 11 and 17, it says unvaccinated people accounted for 2,620 of COVID-19 cases in B.C. (71 per cent), while 583 cases (16 per cent) were in partially vaccinated residents. Another 498 cases (13 per cent) were in people who are fully vaccinated.

As well, between August 10 and 16, there were 95 people who were unvaccinated who were hospitalized with COVID-19, 84 per cent of the total. That’s in stark contrast to the six people who were partially vaccinated (five per cent) and 12 people were were fully vaccinated (11 per cent) who were hospitalized.

During a news conference on Monday afternoon, Premier John Horgan said it is unlikely the province will be moving into stage 4 of its Restart Plan next month.

“The Delta variant and an increase in cases, largely within the unvaccinated population, has led us to pause and reflect on what steps, what measures, we can take through public health and through other initiatives to protect British Columbians,” Horgan said.

On the vaccine front, the province says there are now 83.2 per cent of people over the age of 12 who have gotten one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. There are now 74.9 per cent of people in the province who are fully vaccinated.

Earlier in the day, health officials announced plans to require people be vaccinated against COVID-19 if they want to attend some social and recreational events.