There were 673 new cases of COVID-19 in B.C. in the past 24 hours, including 66 in the Interior Health region.

That brings the B.C. total to 44,776 since the start of the pandemic with 3,064 of those in the Interior Health region.

There have been 21 new deaths, bringing the death toll in B.C. to 732.

“Here in B.C., the majority of new cases continue to be directly connected to somebody we know who has a confirmed case or as a part of a cluster or an outbreak in your social group,” provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said during a media briefing today, Dec. 17. "So if you have any, any symptoms at all, you should arrange to get testing immediately.”

Of the new cases, 403 were in the Fraser Health region, 145 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, four in the Vancouver Island Health region and 47 in the Northern Health region. There were also eight non-residents infected.

There are now 10,009 active cases in B.C. since the pandemic started with 809 of those in the Interior Health region. There are 358 people in hospital, including 28 in the Interior Health region. There are 93 people in in intensive care, of which seven are in the Interior Health region. There are 10,388 people being monitored by health authorities across the province.

An Interior Health news release says there are 56 cases in the McKinney Place long-term care home in Oliver. That has been adjusted down from 57 announced earlier. There won't be any update on the cluster of 60 cases at Big White Ski Resort.

Dr. Henry said 1,215 health care workers have received the COVID-19 vaccine so far. She did not provide details of how it will roll out next week into areas outside the Lower Mainland but will release more details as they are confirmed. She expects that to happen early in the next week.

There's expected to be 380,000 doses of vaccines in B.C. by the end of March, she said.

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