VANCOUVER -- B.C. has added 427 additional cases of COVID-19 to its total, as well as three deaths from the disease, health officials said Wednesday.
The update came in the form of a written statement from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix.
The pair said there are currently 4,150 active cases of the coronavirus in B.C., a number that includes 232 people who are hospitalized. Sixty-three of those are in intensive care.
Since the start of the pandemic, the province has recorded 74,710 cases of COVID-19, overall, and 1,317 deaths.
"We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost loved ones to COVID-19," Henry and Dix said in their statement.
Twenty of the cases announced Wednesday are epidemiologically linked, meaning the person involved did not test positive for COVID-19, but was diagnosed due to contact with a known case or outbreak.
A total of 7,238 people are currently being monitored by public health officials because of exposure to known cases of the coronavirus.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has put a strain on all of us, but with kindness, compassion and care for those around us, we will see it through," Dix and Henry said. “Keeping our communities and each other strong is about taking care of our physical health and mental well-being, and supporting those around us to do the same."
B.C. has now administered 176,015 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including 26,030 second doses, and 69,167 people who have tested positive for the disease in the province are now considered recovered.
With Wednesday's update, B.C.'s rolling seven-day average for newly announced cases has declined to 407. That's the lowest the average has been since Nov. 6, which was also the last time it was below 400, at 395.
Most of the new cases reported Wednesday were in the Fraser Health region, where 236 infections were reported. Elsewhere, Vancouver Coastal Health added 90 cases, Interior Health added 47, Northern Health added 31 and Island Health added 18.
Henry and Dix said there have been no new outbreaks reported across the province, and two care home outbreaks - at Sunnybank Retirement Centre in Oliver and Mountain View Manor in Delta - are now over.
The pair asked British Columbians to continue following provincial health orders and taking precautions to avoid transmitting the coronavirus, and to encourage others in their lives to keep up their efforts as well.
"It is not only our individual efforts that make the difference, but the power of all of us working together that helps break the chains of transmission," Dix and Henry said.
