VANCOUVER -- B.C. health officials announced another 617 cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, pushing the provincial total past 75,000.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix also announced another four deaths related to the disease, bringing B.C.'s death toll to 1,321.

"We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost loved ones to COVID-19," Henry and Dix said in a joint written statement.

The province has now recorded a total of 75,327 infections since the start of the pandemic. About 92 per cent of people who have tested positive – 69,167 in total – have recovered.

Thursday's increase in cases was significantly higher than the seven-day average of 431 cases per day, and was only offset by 435 new recoveries. As a result, B.C.'s active caseload increased by about 200, reaching 4,348.

That includes 224 people in hospital, 60 of whom are in intensive care.

Henry and Dix noted there has been an "uptick in cases" in the Lower Mainland and in the province's north, and urged all B.C. residents to follow public health orders and restrictions.

"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," they said.

The update followed hours after the federal government provided a new immunization timeline that indicates 14.5 million Canadians will have received both doses of vaccine by the end of June.

That timeline only factors in expected deliveries of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna doses. If Health Canada approves AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Novovax vaccines, the government indicated up to 24.5 million people could be fully vaccinated in the same time frame.

B.C. health officials said 4,676 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered across the province since their last update on Wednesday, for a total of 180,691. Some 26,030 of those were second doses.

Henry and Dix also announced one new COVID-19 outbreak at Fleetwood Villa, and said another at Cariboo Memorial Hospital has been declared over.