B.C. health officials are reporting 299 new cases of COVID-19 for a total of 15,800 cases in the province.

Eleven new cases were in the Interior Health Authority which has now seen 788 cases of the virus, 95 of which are active.

Active cases provincewide are up to a new record of 3,017, while there are now 6,888 people being actively monitored by public health teams after being exposed to someone with a known case of the virus.

“Our goal for the COVID-19 pandemic is to continue to minimize severe illness, death and social disruption in our communities. The more we learn about the virus, the better we are able to manage all three of these important objectives,” said a statement from the Health Ministry.

“Today, much of the recent transmission is connected to social gatherings. That is why it is so important to keep our groups small. This is particularly important in the Fraser Health region where public health teams are asking everyone to avoid all social gatherings in your home right now – even those that are within the restrictions of the provincial health officer order.”

The Lower Mainland accounted for 280 of today’s cases – 185 in Fraser Health and 95 in Vancouver Coastal Health, with five cases on Vancouver Island and three in the North.

There are now 92 people in hospital across B.C., 22 in ICU. There were also three new deaths reported taking the death toll from COVID-19 to 272 people.

In all, there are 12,430 people who tested positive for COVID-19 who are now considered to have recovered.