B.C. health officials are reporting another 673 cases of COVID-19 along with another 21 deaths.

Sixty-six of today’s cases were in Interior Health with 403 in Fraser Health, 145 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 47 in Northern Health, four on Vancouver Island, and eight in people who live outside of Canada.

There are 809 active cases in the Interior with 28 people in hospital, seven in ICU, with the death toll remaining at eight people. Provincewide, active cases are at 10,009 with 358 people in hospital including 93 in critical or intensive care. The death toll meanwhile has increased to 713.

Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry meanwhile noted there are 1,215 healthcare workers who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, up from 409 in Tuesday.

“Starting next week, the province will receive weekly vaccine deliveries for clinics in every health region across the province,” she said.

Health Minister Adrian Dix also noted that 88.8 per cent of regular hospital beds in the province are occupied along with 78.2 per cent of ICU beds.

“We had 4,992 emergency room visits yesterday, that’s less than normal,” Dix said. “Our acute-care facilities, their occupancy when you count surge beds, is 69.9 per cent of overall beds and 53.6 per cent of ICU beds.”

Henry though says the province isn’t at the point where it needs to bring emergency field hospitals like the one at the Vancouver Convention Centre – which is ready to go with 48 hours of notice – online.

“We are coping, but it reminds us again how important it is for all of us to do our piece right now, because we are bumping up against that stretch in our health system,” she said, noting some patients from Northern B.C. were taken to hospital in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island.

“We’ve flattened our line, but we have not yet come down to our level where we need to. There’s still too much transmission in our community.”

Health officials say most new COVID-19 cases are linked to known cases, noting anyone who is a close contact of someone with a virus should get tested immediately.

“If you have not been around anyone that has COVID-19 that you are aware of, the guidance for when to get a test has been updated to make it clearer for everyone,” she said. “This is because we know many COVID-19 symptoms are similar to influenza or colds.”

“There are four symptoms that are highly predictive of the virus: fever or chills, cough, loss of sense of smell or taste, and difficulty breathing. If you have any of these symptoms, you should arrange to get tested right away.”

All told, there are now 10,388 people under active public health monitoring because they came in contact with someone who tested positive for the virus, while 32,963 people are considered to have recovered – about 74 per cent of the total case load.