B.C. health officials are reporting another 1,236 cases of COVID-19 and 13 deaths over the weekend with 152 of those cases in Interior Health.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says there were 428 new cases reported on Saturday, 465 on Sunday, and another 343 on Monday. Of the weekend case count, 601 new cases were in Fraser Health, 266 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 131 in Northern Health, and 86 on Vancouver Island.

There were three deaths reported in Interior Health taking the total number of deaths to 81, and 1,259 across B.C.

No new cases reported at the Royal Inland Hospital outbreak which remains at 102 cases – 66 staff and 36 patients. The active case count though is down by five to 46.

The outbreak at the Westsyde Care Residences remains at 26 cases – 14 residents and 12 staff – with 24 active cases. The Brocklehurst Gemstone Care Centre outbreak is remains at 25 cases – 17 residents and eight staff –  with two active cases.

Active cases across B.C. are down by 447 from Friday to 3,976 with 234 people in hospital with COVID-19, 69 of whom are in intensive care. Meanwhile, there are at least 6,900 people under active public health monitoring due to a direct exposure to someone with a known COVID-19 cases.

Henry also says there are now 40 confirmed cases of “variants of concern” in the province including 25 of the so-called U.K. variant and 15 of the so-called South African variant.

“We only have three that are currently active,” Henry said. “And public health has done extensive follow-up and tracing back of all of our cases, and the ones we know about, we are confident for the majority of them that there has been no onward transmission.”

Of the 25 U.K. variant cases, 15 are in the Fraser Health, five in Vancouver Coastal Health, four on Vancouver Island, and one in Interior Health. Meanwhile, there are 13 of the South African variant in Vancouver Coastal Health and two in Fraser Health, but Henry says the concern is that the origin of four of those cases remains unknown.

“What we have seen in places around the world…is that it does change the game in some ways if it starts spreading in the community,” she said. “I think some of us are dreading that.”

There have been 154,496 doses of the vaccine administered to British Columbians, including 12,111 second doses, and Henry says the province is on track to ramp up vaccinations starting with those over 80 by next month.

“Each week this month our available supply will increase, and we are looking forward to early in March when we anticipate being able to fully start our mass vaccination clinics across the province,” she said.

“You will receive the information [on] where your clinic will be, or how you will receive vaccine. We’re working on the details in every community across the province and they will become clear in the next little while.”

Like she noted on Friday, Dr. Henry also says she is watching closely to see if and when it will be safe to lift some of the current restrictions on things like social gatherings and non-essential travel. In the meantime, she is urging people to stay close to home this upcoming Family Day weekend.

“We all need to stay local and not travel unless it is required for work or medical reasons,” Henry added. “By avoiding travel now, we’ll have much more to enjoy later.”

A total of 65,605 people are considered to have recovered from COVID-19, about 92 per cent of the total 70,952 cases.