DR. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, on Thursday announced 617 new cases, including four epi-linked cases, for a total of 75,327 cases in British Columbia.

There have been four new COVID-19-related deaths, for a total of 1,321 deaths in the province.

To date, 180,691 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C., 29,952 of which are second doses. Immunization data is available on the COVID-19 dashboard at: www.bccdc.ca

There are 4,348 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. There are 224 individuals currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 60 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.

Currently, 7,440 people are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and a further 69,602 people who tested positive have recovered.

There have been 146 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 342 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 19 in the Island Health region, 17 in the Interior Health region, 92 in the Northern Health region and one new case of a person who resides outside of Canada.

There have been new health-care facility outbreaks at Mission Memorial Hospital and Fleetwood Villa. The outbreak at Cariboo Memorial Hospital is now over.

There has also been a community outbreak at the Simon Fraser University Childcare Centre.

Henry and Dix said: “COVID-19 continues to challenge all of us, which is why taking care of our physical and mental well-being is so important – to get us through the difficult days and get to the brighter days ahead.

“We remind everyone about the importance of using all of our layers of protection: maintaining a safe distance from others, washing our hands regularly, staying home when we are ill, using a mask in all public spaces and having robust COVID-19 safety plans in all businesses.

“Equally important is the need to ensure you are following all provincewide public health orders and restrictions – especially with the uptick in cases in the Lower Mainland and northern region.

“We all know what we need to do. Until we have widespread vaccine availability, these small steps make a big difference in helping to keep all of us safe.”