B.C. health officials are reporting 737 new cases of COVID-19, the highest its been since Jan. 7, when there were 761 cases reported in a single day.

There were just 33 cases in Interior Health reported, with 426 in Fraser Health, 163 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 82 in Northern Health, 32 on Vancouver Island, and one new case in a person who lives outside of Canada.

Active cases have shot up to 5,207 across the province, with 292 people in hospital, 85 in intensive care. In Interior Health, there are 341 active cases, an increase of 14 since yesterday. Fifteen people are in hospital, four in ICU.

A further 9,412 people across B.C. are being actively monitored by public health teams after an exposure to someone with a case of the virus.

Health officials say there have been 68 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern for a total of 1,200 cases, with 149 of those cases active. In all, there have been 1,094 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 41 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant, and 65 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant.

Provincial health officials also reported two more deaths taking the provincial total to 1,421 people.

There were 24,438 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine administered in the province since yesterday’s update, taking the total to 490,022 doses, 87,139 of which are second doses. People who are 80-years-old are able to book a vaccine appointment today, while those who are 79 can do so tomorrow.

“We remind all businesses and workers that the requirement to continue to follow COVID-19 safety plans remains in place – even if workers have been vaccinated,” Dr. Bonnie Henry said.

“We also remind workers that health authorities will contact employers directly to arrange immunizations [in active outbreaks and among higher-risk populations and locations], and calling the age-based booking line will not provide access to the parallel AstraZeneca/SII vaccine program.”

There are 84,078 people who are considered to have recovered, about 92 per cent of the total 90,786 cases in British Columbia