VANCOUVER -- British Columbia has recorded another 449 cases of COVID-19 and nine related deaths, health officials announced Thursday.

The province has now recorded a total of 72,305 cases and 1,278 fatalities since the start of the pandemic.

In a joint written statement, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix offered "condolences to everyone who has lost loved ones to COVID-19."

More than half of the latest identified cases – 242 of the 449 – came from the Fraser Health region that spans from Burnaby to Boston Bar. Another 93 were reported in the Vancouver Coastal Health region.

Some 436 people have recovered from COVID-19 as well, leaving the province with 4,317 active cases. That includes 224 people in hospital – the lowest number of hospitalizations since Nov. 20 – with 63 patients in intensive care.

Another 2,090 doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine have been administered since the last update from health officials on Wednesday. The province has now administered a total of 159,886 doses, including 15,684 second doses.

Health officials had no new COVID-19 outbreaks to announce, and the ones at Glenwood Seniors Community, Hilton Villa Seniors Community and Bradley Centre have been declared over.

The latest numbers were released hours after B.C.'s chief coroner revealed that 2020 was the province's deadliest year on record for illicit drug overdoses. A total of 1,716 died from toxic illicit drugs last year, a 74 per cent increase over 2019's death toll.

"Losing more than 1,700 people to the overdose crisis is devastating, and sadly there is no vaccine that will help to end it soon," Henry and Dix said in their statement.

"We remain committed to supporting people who use drugs and are doing everything we can to address the dual health crises affecting our province."

Concern around upcoming holidays and events

With the long weekend coming up, health officials have been stressing the importance of safe behaviour so that B.C. has a hope of relaxing restrictions at the end of the month.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control released tips for celebrating Lunar New Year on Friday and Family Day on Monday.

On Feb. 5, Henry extended her public health order banning events and gathering of any size indefinitely, but said the rules could be eased if case numbers continue to fall in the coming weeks.

For now, those numbers appear to have plateaued again. B.C. has recorded an average of 437 cases per day over the last week, which is approximately the same average recorded at the beginning of the month.

The province's case numbers were on a steep decline in December, but surged following the holiday break.

In the Okanagan, police have also expressed concerns about a planned "mega-rally" for COVID-19 deniers that's scheduled for Saturday in Kelowna. Authorities are concerned that people will be travelling into the community to take part.

Mayor Colin Basran released a statement this week urging out-of-towners to stay home, saying their "disregard for the safety of others is not welcome here."