A one-day record 1,013 new cases of COVID-19 were reported for British Columbia on Wednesday.
The previous high was 996 on March 25 and, before that, 948 on Nov. 14.
Fraser Health accounted for 458 of the new cases Wednesday, followed by Vancouver Coastal at 385, Interior Health at 64, Northern Health at 60 and Island Health at 47.
The count pushed the number of active cases to 7,405, compared to 4,200 as of mid-February, with 301 in hospital, 80 of whom are in intensive care. As of March 8,there were 240 in hospital with 66 in intensive care.
To date, 756,080 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,351 of which are second doses.
Three more deaths were reported, raising the total to 1,458, with one of them in Northern Health, raising the total for the region to 121 since the pandemic broke out, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
Active cases in Northern Health stood at 310, up by 13 from the day before, while hospitalizations grew by three to 35 with 13 in intensive care, up one.
In a joint statement, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and health minister Adrian Dix noted that heading into the Easter weekend expanded visitation in all long-term care facilities throughout the province will get underway.
"If you are planning to visit your family member or friend, please remember that COVID-19 safety plans must continue to be followed, including wearing masks and staying away if you feel unwell, they said in a joint statement.
They also urged people to stay in their home towns.
"Right now, no one should be travelling for leisure or vacation outside of your local communities or regions. The risk for all of us is too great, which means any of our usual travel and holiday weekend gatherings need to be put on hold this year."
They also said the vaccine rollout remains on track to have everyone vaccinated by Canada Day but, in the meantime, they urged everyone to follow all the public health orders and guidelines now in place.
"The COVID-19 pandemic continues, and we will continue to face hurdles in our pandemic response. And when we do, we will continue to adjust and adapt our approach to safely move forward," they said.
"Help us to push our curve back down again. Do this by staying small, staying outside and staying with your same group of close contacts. This is what will get us closer to putting COVID-19 behind us."
