B.C. reports 737 new cases of COVID-19 as number of active cases goes past 5,000 mark

British Columbia officials say the province will use "every last drop" of available vaccine in its parallel COVID-19 vaccination programs.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has allowed health authorities to target outbreaks and help front-line workers, as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are used for B.C.'s age-based vaccine rollout.

B.C. reported 737 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 90,786.

The province also reported two new COVID-19-related deaths, for a total of 1,421.

Dr. Henry and Dix say 490,022 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,139 of which are second doses.

There have been 68 new cases of variants of concern, bringing the total to 1,200 cases.