A total of 86 cases of COVID-19 are now linked to recent exposures in the 琉璃神社 area.

As of Friday, July 24, Interior Health confirms 80 of those cases have been test-confirmed and another six are epidemiologically linked 鈥� meaning the subject was showing symptoms and either had close contact with a confirmed case or was in a closed facility known to be experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19.

Seventy-four of those are IH residents. The other 12 are from Vancouver Coastal (5) and Fraser Health (7).

Four new cases were reported on Friday in the Interior Health region, for a total of 319. Two people are currently in hospital with COVID-19.

READ MORE: Okanagan COVID-19 numbers skyrocket after 琉璃神社 exposures

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IH has identified an additional epi-linked COVID-19 case in a health care worker at 琉璃神社 General Hospital (KGH). This brings the number of KGH employee cases to eight.

鈥淭his is another community-acquired case, linked to the broader cluster in 琉璃神社. This was not an exposure in hospital and we have no evidence of any patient exposures related to these staff cases. Investigations and follow-up on this and additional cases related to the cluster continue,鈥� reads a statement from Interior Health.

鈥淎s per IH protocols and Ministry of Health recommendations, staff experiencing symptoms must stay home from work. We are confident that the individuals impacted by this current situation are following this direction.

鈥淚t is important that anyone requiring medical care at the hospital feels confident in coming to KGH.鈥�

IH confirmed it has brought in more than 20 additional public health team members to support regular staff with contact tracing.

Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email: michael.rodriguez@kelownacapnews.com

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