DR. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, on Friday announced 737 new cases of COVID-19, including six epi-linked cases, for a total of 40,797 cases in British Columbia.

There were 11 new COVID-19-related deaths, and the total number of deaths now stands at 598.

There are 9,589 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. There are 342 individuals currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 87 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.

Currently, 12,008 people are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases. A further 29,598 people who tested positive have recovered.

There have been 119 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 469 new cases in the Fraser Health region, eight in the Island Health region, 99 in the Interior Health region, 41 in the Northern Health region and one new case of a person who resides outside of Canada.

There have been three new health-care facility outbreaks at Agassiz Seniors Community, Hilton Villa Seniors Community and St. Michael’s Centre. The outbreaks at Veterans Memorial Lodge, Amica White Rock and Burnaby Hospital are over.

There has been one new community outbreak at Regent Christian Academy.

Henry and Dix said: “COVID-19 continues to circulate in our communities and the risk to all of us remains high. This is why it is so important to follow the public health orders and to use our layers of protection until the vaccine is available for all of us.

“This weekend, take a step back from the usual holiday rush. Take the time to get outside and enjoy a quieter weekend with those in your household. Show your loved ones you care by staying local and staying away right now.

“We want to ensure we are moving into this stage of our COVID-19 response in the best position possible, which means working together to make sure we don’t fall back as we move forward with our immunization program.

“We will get through this storm by supporting each other in our shared efforts. Let’s break the chain of transmission in our province and do our part to keep our communities, neighbours, friends and loved ones safe.”