Dr. Henry saw B.C. hit its highest mark for new COVID-19 cases since Jan. 7 on Friday with 634 new. (flickr/Gov't of B.C.)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

covid-19 update

Island Health ends week with lower than average new COVID-19 cases

Mar 5, 2021 | 4:16 PM

NANAIMO — Island Health has ended the week on a brighter note than the Friday before.

New data from the health authority showed 27 new cases confirmed on Friday, March 5, making for slightly less than 150 new cases throughout the week.

There were 180 new cases in the same timeframe the week before.

The rolling three-day average on Friday rose to 90, which is the highest seen all week, but it’s down significantly from the record-breaking 114 rolling-three day average on Feb. 25.

Within central Vancouver Island, there’s currently 139 active cases out of 256 for all of Island Health. This is a drop of 15 active cases for the region.

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The rest of the province did not fare as well as Island Health.

Public health confirmed 634 new cases on Friday, which is the highest one-day total since Jan. 7. The number of active cases rose by 158 to 4,901. The number of people in hospital and receiving intensive care remained relatively unchanged.

There were four new fatalities.

Despite the higher case counts, there was good news on Friday with Health Canada approving the single use Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

To date in B.C., more than 311,000 doses of the vaccine were administered as clinics open.

The province vaccine appointment bookings for people over 90 and Indigenous people over 65 will begin.

Vaccine clinics are open in both Nanaimo and Parksville.

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