The B.C. government is reporting two new deaths and 86 new cases of COVID-19 over the last 48 hours, for a total of 970 cases across the province.

Across the Interior Health Authority there are now 94 cases, up from 77 on Saturday.

In her Monday briefing, Dr. Bonnie Henry confirmed the first ‘community death’ related to the COVID-19 virus – after a man in the Vancouver Coastal Health area died in his home – bringing the total number of deaths in B.C. to 19.

“The Coroners Office has confirmed our first death in the community as a result of COVID-19,” she said. “Due to privacy considerations however, I will not be releasing the identity of this individual or any further information on this person.”

Henry says 48 per cent of the people in B.C. – 469 people – have also recovered from the virus, including 70 people who were in ICU.

“And I think that’s really a testament to the importance of people being in hospital at the right time, being ventilated at the right time if they need it, and recovering from this,” Henry added. “And I think that’s an incredibly important thing for us to remember.”

However, she is cautioning people that we have not yet reached the peak of this virus in the province, saying the next two weeks will be critical in the fight against COVID-19.

“We’re in our second incubation period, where we’ll see if our hospitals continue and trickle or if we are going to see a dramatic increases,” said Henry. “It’s very hard to know right now, but I do think as I said last week, that things that we are doing are making a difference.”

“We have more people every day who are in hospital and are in our intensive care units, so we need to continue to do all we can across government, across our health system and in our community.”

As of Monday’s briefing, there are 106 people in hospital with COVID-19, 60 of those in ICU.

– With files from Victor Kaisar