PROVINCIAL Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix on Tuesday announced 428 new cases of COVID-19, including two epi-linked cases, for a total of 54,629 cases in British Columbia.

There have been eight new COVID-19-related deaths, and the total number of deaths in the province stands at 954.

There are 6,472 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C. There are 367 individuals currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 77 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.

Currently, 8,596 people are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and a further 45,999 people who tested positive have recovered.

There have been 90 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 223 new cases in the Fraser Health region, nine in the Island Health region, 61 in the Interior Health region, 45 in the Northern Health region and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

Henty and Dix said: “To date, 28,209 people have received a COVID-19 vaccine in British Columbia. Our focus is to ensure we safely deliver the vaccines as quickly as possible to communities across the province, using all available supply.

“While the focus is on first-priority populations in the next three months, as new vaccines are approved and additional supply becomes available, we will incorporate the additional doses into our distribution to enable as many people as possible to be immunized as soon as they can.”

There has been one new health-care facility outbreak at St. Paul’s Hospital.

A public alert has been issued for the Revelstoke region, where community transmission and new cases of COVID-19 have increased substantially in recent days. The alert is a caution for all of us to continue to follow public health guidelines and restrictions, added Henry and Dix.

They said: “We were able to slow the increase of new cases in mid-December and we want to continue that trend, but the number of new cases and deaths across the province remains high.

“The more people we see, the higher our risks are, which is why keeping our groups small and using our layers of protection is so important right now.

“A reminder to everyone to arrange to get tested as quickly as possible, should you develop symptoms of COVID-19. Contact 811, your health-care provider or to find testing information, visit: www.bccdc.ca

“With each day that we do our part, we are protecting our friends, families and communities, knowing that the vaccine is now helping to bolster our efforts. Together, we will get through this storm.”