Health officials in B.C. say there were 156 new COVID-19 cases in the past three days, including two deaths from the virus.

There were 58 new cases in Interior Health – just over one-third of total new cases between Saturday and today, for a health authority that has about 15 per cent of the B.C. population.

Elsewhere, there were 63 new cases in Fraser Health, 27 in Vancouver Coastal Health, four in Island Health, three in Northern Health and one for an out-of-province resident.

Across the province, there are now 653 active cases, including 179 in Interior Health. Compared to Friday, there is one more active virus case in B.C.

Hospitalizations dropped considerably on the weekend; there are 49 people in hospital with the virus compared to 60 on Friday. There are 12 people in intensive care with the virus, which is the same as Friday. Since July 2, hospitalizations from COVID-19 have dropped from 99 to 49.

Meanwhile, now 79.9 per cent of all people aged 12 and older in B.C. have received at least vaccine dose, while 53.2 per cent of people are fully vaccinated. There were 168,660 vaccines administered on the weekend in B.C., and the total number of doses administered is 6,173,328.