Island sees record number of new COVID-19 cases as B.C. adds more than 2,000 in a day

For the third straight day, the B.C. government has announced a record number of new cases of COVID-19.

Thursday's update added 2,046 more infections to the provincial total, as well as one related death.

On Vancouver Island, a record 248 new cases were confirmed in the past 24 hours, and the one death that occurred province-wide was in Island Health.

Since the pandemic began, 2,410 people have died of COVID-19 in B.C., including 139 in Island Health.

The latest cases push the province's rolling seven-day average for new cases to 1,167, the highest it's ever been.

Across the province, there are 8,739 active cases of COVID-19, a total that includes 1,267 in Island Health.

The health authority provided the locations of 884 active cases on Thursday, including 500 in the South Island, 228 in the Central Island and 156 in the North Island.

There are 195 people battling the coronavirus in B.C. hospitals, including 75 who are in intensive care units. On the island, hospitalizations increased to 41 on Thursday - up from 38 on Wednesday - and ICU admissions rose from 15 to 18.

B.C.'s surge in cases is being driven by the Omicron variant, which is rapidly replacing the Delta variant as the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the province.