New COVID-19 cases in the Kamloops local health area are down for a fourth-straight week.

According to the BC Centre for Disease Control, between May 16-22 there were 22 new cases in the Kamloops LHA, compared to 32 the week before.

For a third straight week, since the BCCDC starting releasing this data, the test-positivity rate in the Kamloops area was below three per cent, at 2.5 per cent last week.

Data also shows that 63 per cent of people aged 18 and older in the Kamloops LHA had received at least one vaccine dose by May 22. And for people aged 50 and older, that number is 81 per cent.

The local health area includes not only Kamloops but also Sun Peaks, Chase, Barriere, Little Fort, Savona, Tobiano and Logan Lake, and communities in between.

New cases last week were also low in Merritt (three), the North Thompson (one), and Salmon Arm (six). There were zero new cases in the South Cariboo and 100 Mile House local health areas, west of Kamloops.

On a per-capita basis, the most significant hot spots in the province last week for new cases were Abbotsford (257 cases), Peace River North (58) and Fort Nelson (nine). Surrey was the fourth-worst local health area per capita, with 721 new cases.

The worst local health area in the southern Interior for per-capita new cases, and total new cases, was the Central Okanagan, with 224. The Central Okanagan has now seen cases for three straight weeks.