B.C. health officials are reporting 550 new cases of COVID-19 today, 182 of which were of the so-called variants of concern.

In all, there were 36 new cases in Interior Health, with 319 new cases in Fraser Health, 133 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 52 in Northern Health, and seven in Island Health. There were also three new cases among people who live outside of Canada.

The number of so-called cases of a COVID-19 variant of concern has increased to 576 cases, with 113 of those active, an increase of 26 since yesterday‘s update. Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry says there are now 530 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 33 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant,  and for the first time, 13 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant.

Active cases of COVID-19 provincewide are at 4,869 with 249 people in hospital, 68 of whom are in intensive care. A further 8,971 people are being actively monitored as a result of an identified exposure to known cases.

There were also two more deaths taking the death toll in British Columbia to 1,393. Today also marks the one year anniversary of the first death, an elderly man who lived at the Lynn Valley Care Centre.

“Today, we pause and remember everyone who has died from this virus and offer our condolences to those who have lost their loved ones,” Henry said. “Through the loss and uncertainty that has come with this pandemic, we have seen incredible resilience, as people throughout our province have adapted to the challenges COVID-19 has brought.”

“Now, with every new person who is vaccinated, we can take comfort in knowing with each immunization, we all benefit – Elders, seniors, families and communities. Let’s keep moving forward and doing our part to put COVID-19 behind us.”

There have been 343,381 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine administered in B.C., 86,938 of which are second doses. Health officials today blamed Telus for the rocky rollout of the phone system yesterday left many people frustrated as they tried to book a COVID-19 vaccine appointment.

There are now 78,770 people who are considered to have recovered from COVID-19, about 93 per cent of the total 85,119 cases in British Columbia.