Two more deaths and 79 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the Interior Health region Friday.

The daily case count for Jan. 22 is down from Thursday鈥檚 95 cases, and brings the total number of active cases in the region up to 1,098.

Of the two reported deaths, one took place at Sunnybank long-term care facility in Oliver and the other at Vernon鈥檚 Heritage Square assisted living facility.

鈥淲e are sad to report two additional deaths related to COVID-19 of people who lived in long-term care homes in our region,鈥� said Susan Brown, IH president and CEO.

鈥淥n behalf of Interior Health, I offer our condolences to the families and caregivers. With news of the provincial mass vaccination plan shared today, we have hope and we can look forward to the fall. But in the meantime, right now, it鈥檚 more important than ever to continue following the precautions and use our layers of protection.鈥�

A number of active outbreaks were updated Friday.

Brocklehurst Gemstone long-term care in Kamloops has 24 cases: 17 residents and seven staff, with one death connected to this outbreak.

路 Sunnybank long-term care in Oliver has 35 cases: 26 residents and nine staff and three deaths.

路 Creekside Landing long-term care in Vernon has 35 cases: 20 residents and 15 staff, with one death.

路 Williams Lake Seniors Village has two cases: one resident and one staff.

路 Noric House long-term care in Vernon has 56 cases: 34 residents and 22 staff, with five deaths connected to this outbreak.

路 Heritage Square long-term care in Vernon has 68 cases: 47 residents and 21 staff and eight deaths.

路 Heritage Retirement Residence in West 91大黄鸭 has 46 cases: 41 residents and five staff, with three deaths connected to the outbreak.

Eleven new cases were reported at Big White Ski Resort, bringing the cluster鈥檚 cast count up to 214.

An outbreak at Teck mining operations in Elkford was declared over, while a new outbreak was announced at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.

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