Final COVID-19 update of the week includes 13 deaths in just 24 hours in B.C.

Vancouver -

B.C. is reporting 667 new cases of COVID-19 and 13 new deaths.

The numbers, which cover the last 24-hour period, came Friday afternoon in a statement from the Ministry of Health, in what is expected to be the last case update of the week.

Friday's cases bring the rolling average down to 563, from 574 on Thursday. It's the seventh straight day that the average has declined. The last time it rose was when it hit 671 on Oct. 8, a slight increase from 667 the day before.

Two of the deaths were in the Interior Health region and the other 11 were in Fraser Health.

The province also reported one new COVID-19 outbreak at a health-care facility. That outbreak, at GR Baker Memorial Hospital in Quesnel, is in the province’s Northern Health region. The rural region is seeing high COVID-19 case spread and its intensive care units have been overwhelmed.

One COVID-19 outbreak, at Good Samaritan Delta View Care Centre in Fraser Health authority, was declared over. There are 19 other active outbreaks in health-care settings, according to the ministry.

The new cases means there are now 5,128 active cases of COVID-19. Of the active cases, 367 people are in hospital, 152 of whom are in intensive care. The number of people in B.C. who have recovered from COVID-19 is now 188,851.

As of Friday, 89 per cent of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose, the same percentage reported on Thursday. Despite the fact that the percentage remains the same, an additional 3,314 people received their first dose of the vaccine over the one-day period – it just wasn’t enough to bump the percentage count up. And, 83.7 per cent of eligible residents have received two doses, an increase from 82.9 per cent on Thursday.

Of the new cases, 246 are in Fraser Health, 184 are in Northern Health, 75 in Vancouver Coastal Health, and 59 in Island Health, and 101 in Interior Health.

Notably, however, Fraser Health has more than six times the population of Northern Health, meaning the northern region added far more cases per capita than Fraser Health – or the province’s other three health regions.

To address the spread of COVID-19 in Northern Health, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced new restrictions on Thursday as the region’s hospitals were overwhelmed.

As of Friday, personal gatherings – whether indoor or outdoor – are restricted to fully vaccinated people in parts of Northern B.C.

"If you are unvaccinated or have unvaccinated people in your households, then you need to stay with your household only," Henry said when speaking to the Northern Health measures.