B.C. health officials are reporting 564 new COVID-19 cases in the province along with 15 more deaths.

There were another 95 cases in Interior Health, taking the total case count in the health authority to 5,560, of which 1,098 are active. There were also two more deaths in the Interior, taking the total to 57 – with 49 of those deaths coming since Dec. 17.

“I know people are fatigued by the impact COVID-19 on our day-to-day lives,” IHA President and CEO Susan Duncan said. “However, the ongoing challenges of this pandemic shows us we need to continue to be vigilant and compassionate. We all need to do our part to reduce the risk of COVID-19 in our communities.”

The outbreak at the Brocklehurst Gemstone Care Centre in Kamloops is up to 24 cases – 17 residents and seven staff, with one death connected to this outbreak.

Also in the Interior, there is a community cluster in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, in and around the Williams Lake area with 215 cases since Jan. 1 as of an update yesterday.

Fraser Health had 234 new cases on Thursday, with 111 on Vancouver Island, 76 in Northern Health, 47 on Vancouver Island, and one new case in someone who lives outside of Canada.

Provincially, the active case count is up slightly to 4,450 with 309 people in hospital, 68 in intensive care. The death toll across B.C. is now 1,119 people, while there are 6,816 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to a known case.

“Despite our COVID-19 curve trending in the right direction, we continue to have new outbreaks, community clusters and high numbers of new cases. COVID-19 continues to spread widely in our communities,” a statement from the health ministry said.

“We need to do everything we can to break the chain of transmission. Right now is the time to do that.”

As it stands, there have been 104,901 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered across the province, 1,680 of which are second doses. The province will be releasing more details about the second phase of its COVID-19 immunization strategy around 10:30 a.m. tomorrow.

There are 56,010 people are now considered to have recovered, about 89 per cent of the total case load.