243 COVID19 cases for Friday

B.C. is reporting 243 new cases of COVID-19, pushing the number of active cases to 1,231.

Data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control show that's the highest daily case count since late May.

More than half of the latest cases as well as overall active infections are in the Interior Health region, where an outbreak was declared in the central Okanagan.

Officials have said the outbreak that prompted the reintroduction of public health restrictions in several central Okanagan communities has spread primarily among people who are unvaccinated or who have yet to receive their second shot.

Nearly 65 per cent of eligible B.C. residents are now fully vaccinated, while just over 81 per cent have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

B.C. is poised to surpass 150,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 diagnosed since the pandemic began, with 149,889 reported as of Friday.

There were 47 people in hospital with the illness, including 16 in intensive care.