VANCOUVER -- Another 267 cases of COVID-19 were identified in British Columbia over the weekend, and three more people died from the disease.
Monday's update from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry pushed the total number of cases identified locally since the start of the pandemic to 8,908, and the death toll to 233.
While the number of active cases across the province dipped to 1,302, down from 1,349 on Friday, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 inched up once again. Henry said there were 69 people in hospital as of Monday afternoon, including 22 patients in intensive care or critical care units.
She once again urged people to think twice before attending social events, which she blamed for many of the new cases recorded this month.
"Important events like weddings, birthdays, funerals and parties have been driving this in the last few weeks," Henry said. "What this means is through the choices we make, we can control the course of the pandemic as we're moving into the fall. Whether the curve goes up further, stays the same, or goes down relies on us."
Henry said contact-tracing has shown social events continue to pose a major risk whether they're held at a private home or "a less controlled setting."
There were also four more outbreaks discovered over the weekend, including at an event at Calvary Chapel Church in Kelowna that has resulted in five people falling ill so far.
The other three were all in the health care system, including at Holy Family Hospital in Vancouver, which has now suffered three outbreaks since the beginning of the pandemic. Twenty-one people died during the facility's first outbreak.
Henry said one staff member has tested positive for COVID-19 at Holy Family, and at Thornbridge Gardens Retirement Residence in New Westminster and Harrison West at Elim Village in Surrey.
The outbreak at Burnaby General Hospital has also been declared over, leaving a total of 16 active outbreaks at health facilities in the province.
The 267 cases announced Monday were identified over three reporting periods: 68 were recorded from Friday to Saturday, followed by 125 from Saturday to Sunday and 74 from Sunday to Monday.
The infections were outnumbered by the 310 people who recovered from COVID-19 over the weekend, leaving the total number of recoveries recorded across the province at 7,346.