A milestone on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in British Columbia as 80 per cent of people over the age of 12 are now fully vaccinated.

Data released Friday by the B.C. government shows there have been 3,709,554 people who have rolled up their sleeves twice, while 87.5 per cent of people over the age of 12 (4,053,738) have at least one dose of the vaccine. That is an increase of 6,778 first doses and 7,858 second doses since Thursday.

The announcement comes as the province reported another 743 cases of the virus, with 177 of those cases in Interior Health.

Active cases across the province are at 5,979, an increase of 282 from Thursday’s update. In Interior Health, there are 1,268 active cases, an increase of 87 from yesterday.

There are 319 people in hospital with COVID-19, down from the 330 reported yesterday. Of that, there are 149 people in intensive care, an increase of one. Earlier in the day, B.C. released some information on how it counts its daily hospital numbers.

In a news release, the Ministry of Health said today that as of Tuesday, there were 152 patients in hospitals across B.C. who had been admitted for COVID-19 who are no longer contagious. That is in addition to the 332 patients it said were in hospital with the virus as of that day.

“For some of these patients [who are no longer infectious], COVID-19 can trigger difficulties with other health conditions,” a statement said. “These patients may require longer periods of hospitalization, but for reasons that are no longer directly tied to COVID-19, or they may have contracted COVID-19 while in hospital and still need care for the underlying issue they were admitted for.”

“This means some patients who entered hospital or critical care as a COVID-19 patient may no longer be counted as COVID-19 patients once they are no longer infectious, even though they remain in hospital.”

Health Minister Adrian Dix says 94 percent of people in critical care today due to COVID-19 were not fully vaccinated, 132 people not vaccinated at all.

In terms of new cases, Fraser Health led the way again with 292 new cases (2,029 active), with another 111 in Vancouver Coastal Health (955 active), 106 in Northern Health (1,023 active), and 57 in Island Health (660 active). There were no new cases in people who live outside of Canada with 44 such cases active.

In the past 24 hours though, there have been seven new COVID deaths reported – four in Fraser Health and one each in the Interior, Northern, and Island health regions-  for an overall total of 1,922 people.

There were no changes in any of the outbreaks in Kamloops care facilities.

An outbreak at the Hamlets at Kamloops Seniors Village remains at 19 cases – ten among residents and nine among staff – with one death linked, while at outbreak at The Hamlets at Westsyde remains at six cases – three among residents and three among staff members.

There are five cases at Overlander Residential Care – three residents and two staff.

Between Sept. 16 and Sept. 22, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 75 per cent of new cases. Between Sept. 9 and Sept. 22, they accounted for 81.9 per cent of hospitalizations.