More than half of the people who contracted COVID-19 in the Interior Health region and tested positive have fully recovered from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, according to the provincial government.

The province has released a new BC COVID-19 dashboard that’s available online, and it features the latest case counts and information on recoveries, deaths, hospitalizations and testing.

Of the 146 laboratory confirmed cases in the Interior Health region, 74 people (51 per cent) have recovered.

Eleven patients are currently hospitalized, including six patients in intensive care.

On Wednesday, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry confirmed that the Interior Health region recorded its first COVID-19 related death, a man in his 60s.

Global News has learned the victim was 69-year-old Dennis Rau of Kelowna.

An online obituary stated that Rau passed away suddenly on April 9 from complications due to COVID-19.

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Friends said Rau fell ill after returning from vacation in Turkey with his wife a month ago.

They said the couple self-isolated at home until Rau became gravely sick and was admitted into the ICU at Kelowna General Hospital.

The median age of a COVID-19 patient in the Interior Health region is 50-years-old, according to daily surveillance reports released by the BC Centre for Disease Control.

The median age of a hospitalized patient with COVID-19 within the Interior Health Authority is 62.

According to the provincial government, of the 57,997 lab tests completed province-wide, 8,332 tests have been conducted in the Interior Health region.

“Localized testing capabilities have been established in the Interior and North to shorten testing turnaround times and reduce the potential for community transmission,” said a joint statement from Dr. Henry and BC health minister Adrian Dix on Wednesday.

New testing guidelines were implemented on April 9.

The Interior Health Authority’s website indicates that in addition to residents and staff of long-term care facilities, patients requiring hospitalization or part of an investigation of a cluster or outbreak, and healthcare workers, residents of remote, isolated or indigenous communities also qualify for testing if they present symptoms such as a cough, fever and shortness of breath.

People living and working in congregate settings, such as work-camps, correctional facilities, shelters, group homes, assisted living and seniors’ residences, can also be tested, as well as people experiencing homelessness, essential service providers and returning travellers identified at a point of entry to Canada.

Interior Health has opened 14 referral-only COVID-19 screening clinics across the Interior Health region, which covers approximately 215,000 square kilometres.

According to Interior Health, the region serves 59 incorporated municipalities and more than 90 unincorporated places, and has an approximate population of 762,000.

Seventy-five people in B.C. have now died of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

About 61 per cent of the province’s 1,561 confirmed COVID-19 patients have fully recovered. Of the remaining cases, 131 patients are in hospital, with 59 of them in intensive care.

There are more than 4,600 empty hospital beds in B.C., in preparation for a potential rapid surge in patients.

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