Cases of COVID-19 rose dramatically Thursday to above 700 with three new deaths. B.C. is reporting 753 new cases of COVID-19, including one epi-linked case, for a total of 224,998 cases in the province. There are 3,878 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 218,616 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 184 individuals are in hospital and 70 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

VICTORIA – Cases of COVID-19 rose dramatically Thursday to above 700 with three new deaths.

As of Thursday, Dec. 16, 86.8% (4,327,774) of eligible people five and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 82.5% (4,110,723) have received their second dose.

In addition, 91.6% (4,245,964) of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 88.7% (4,110,675) received their second dose and 14% (660,784) have received a third dose.

Also, 92.0% (3,978,487) of all eligible adults in B.C. have received their first dose, 89.2% (3,857,097) received their second dose and 15% (660,033) have received a third dose.

B.C. is reporting 753 new cases of COVID-19, including one epi-linked case, for a total of 224,998 cases in the province.

There are 3,878 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 218,616 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 184 individuals are in hospital and 70 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.

The new/active cases include:

* 232 new cases in Fraser Health
* Total active cases: 1,091

* 240 new cases in Vancouver Coastal Health
* Total active cases: 999

* 99 new cases in Interior Health
* Total active cases: 644

* 45 new cases in Northern Health
* Total active cases: 238

* 137 new cases in Island Health
* Total active cases: 905

* no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada
* Total active cases: one

In the past 24 hours, three new deaths have been reported, for an overall total of 2,396.

The new deaths include:

* Fraser Health: one

* Vancouver Coastal Health: one

* Island Health: one

There have been 135 cases of the Omicron variant of concern identified in B.C.:

* Fraser Health: 38

* Vancouver Coastal Health: 20

* Interior Health: five

* Northern Health: one

* Island Health: 71

There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks. The outbreak at Ponderosa Lodge (Interior Health) has been declared over. There are no active outbreaks in health-care facilities.

From Dec. 8-14, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 46.3% of cases. From Dec. 1-14, they accounted for 70.2% of hospitalizations.

Past week cases (Dec. 8-14) - Total 2,980

* Not vaccinated: 1,316 (44.2%)

* Partially vaccinated: 64 (2.1%)

* Fully vaccinated: 1,600 (53.7%)

Past two weeks cases hospitalized (Dec. 1-14) - Total 151

* Not vaccinated: 100 (66.2%)

* Partially vaccinated: six (4.0%)

* Fully vaccinated: 45 (29.8%)

Past week, cases per 100,000 population after adjusting for age (Dec. 8-14)

* Not vaccinated: 176.5

* Partially vaccinated: 32.8

* Fully vaccinated: 35.3

Past two weeks, cases hospitalized per 100,000 population after adjusting for age (Dec. 1-14)

* Not vaccinated: 22.6

* Partially vaccinated: 4.9

* Fully vaccinated: 1.0

Since December 2020, the Province has administered 9,067,590 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Pfizer Pediatric COVID-19 vaccines.