Health officials have found 862 new cases of COVID-19 today, and seven new deaths have been reported.

There were 54 new cases in Interior Health. Elsewhere, 557 new cases were reported in Fraser Health today, while 200 cases were in Vancouver Coastal Health, 26 were in Northern Health and 25 were in Island Health.

There are now 483 people in hospital with COVID-19 and 164 people in intensive care, and both of those numbers are far and away daily records for B.C. during the pandemic. In the past seven days alone, hospitalizations from the virus have risen from 377 (plus-106), and ICU patients has risen from 116 (plus-48).

In B.C., there are now 8,906 active cases, as the active case count and daily new case count have steadily declined in the past five days.

Meanwhile, for COVID-19 vaccines, 1,456,946 doses have now been administered to more than 1.368 million people. That means almost 32 per cent of adults in B.C. have received a first dose of a vaccine.

“For each person who gets vaccinated, we are all safer. When your turn comes up for one of the three vaccines, it is your turn to go. We strongly urge you to book your appointment as soon as you can. This is one of the important ways for you to do your part,” Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says in a news release.

Henry also reiterates that anyone aged 40 and over can book an appointment to get the AstraZeneca vaccine.

For vaccine doses at mass vaccination clinics, anyone born in 1958 or earlier is able to book an appointment, as well as any Indigenous residents born in 2003 or earlier and anyone considered “clinically extremely vulnerable” who is born in 2005 or earlier.