Vaccination rates rise in last 2 days in Central Okanagan

Vaccination rates have moved up in all seven Kelowna areas where COVID-19 immunization levels are tracked by the province.

But all areas still have immunization rates slightly below the provincial average and there's a nine percentage gap between the districts with the highest and lowest vaccination rates.

Still, the across-the-board rise in Central Okanagan vaccination rates will be welcome news for health officials trying for months to boost the number of Kelowna-area residents who've had at least one jab.

Here are the latest vaccination rates for different areas of greater Kelowna as of Thursday with the second number in brackets indicating the rate on Tuesday of this week:

Okanagan Mission — 87% (86%) Glenmore — 87% (86%)

Downtown — 86% (84%)

Rutland — 80% (79%)

West Kelowna — 83% (82%)

Lake Country — 80% (79%)

Rural, including Peachland — 78% (77%) Meanwhile, the provincial vaccination rate — measured by those eligible British Columbians 12 and older who've received at least one jab — rose to 87.3% on Thursday from 87.1% on Wednesday. Just over 80% of people eligible have had both vaccinations.

But 832 new cases of COVID-19, including 153 in the Interior Health region, were confirmed across B.C. Fraser Health had the highest number of new cases, at 377.

Five more deaths, including two in the Interior Health region, were reported, making the total since the onset of the pandemic 1,915.

An outbreak at the Brookhaven Care Centre in West Kelowna, which was connected to three deaths, has been declared over. Ten residents and seven staff had tested positive for COVID-19.

That leaves ongoing outbreaks at five Kelowna-area care homes: Cottonwoods (six deaths); David Lloyd Jones (seven deaths); Village at Mill Creek (two deaths); Spring Valley (three deaths); and Sun Pointe (two deaths).

In the past two weeks, 437 British Columbians have been hospitalized because of COVID-19. Three-quarters of them have not received even one of the two necessary vaccination shots, the government said Thursday.

In Interior Health, 55 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, and 45 are in intensive care units, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control.