British Columbia reported 605 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday and four additional deaths.
The update dropped B.C.’s seven-day average for new cases to 580 — the first time it has dipped below 600 since late August.
Of the new cases, 245 were in the Fraser Health, 82 were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 119 were in the Interior Health region, 67 were in the Northern Health region and 92 were in the Island Health region.
Active cases fell to 5,172, but hospitalizations continued to climb.
There were 374 active cases in hospital, up 17 overnight, while the number of patients in critical or intensive care remained unchanged at 153.
The hospitalization numbers do not include patients who were no longer infectious but remained in hospital for other treatment — a figure officials have not provided since Sept. 21.
More than 4.12 million British Columbians, representing 88.9 per cent of those eligible and 80 per cent of the province’s entire population, have had one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Of them 82.7 per cent of those eligible and 74.5 per cent of B.C.’s population have had two doses.
Since the start of the pandemic, B.C. has reported 195,186 total cases of the virus, while 2,033 people have died.