PROVINCIAL Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix on Thursday announced 569 new COVID-19 cases, including three epi-linked cases, for a total of 86,219 cases in British Columbia.

There have been three new COVID-19 related deaths in the last 24 hours, for a total of 1,397 deaths in the province.

To date, 366,791 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C., 87,009 of which are second doses. Vaccine appointment bookings are open for people over 85 and Indigenous people over 65.

There are 4,912 active cases of COVID-19 in the province with 8,989 people under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases. A further 79,829 people who tested positive have recovered.

Of the active cases, 244 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 68 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.

There have been 140 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 301 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 41 in the Island Health region, 26 in the Interior Health region, 60 in the Northern Health region and one new case of a person who resides outside of Canada.

There have been 11 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern in our province, for a total of 638 cases. Of the total cases, 89 are active. The remaining people have recovered. This includes 588 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 36 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant and 14 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant.

There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks.