British Columbia confirmed another 3,223 new cases of COVID-19 and three additional deaths on Thursday.
The update left B.C. with at least 31,877 active cases provincewide.
The number of active cases in hospital climbed by seven overnight to 324, while the number in critical or intensive care climbed by seven to 90.
There were also 16 new health-care outbreaks, including at the Eagle Ridge and Royal Columbian hospitals, along with multiple long-term care facilities.
Of the new cases, 1,538 were in the Fraser Health region, 662 were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 408 were in the Interior Health region, 194 were in the Northern Health region, 417 were in the Island Health region.
Experts say the province’s daily confirmed case totals now significantly under-count the reality of the Omicron variant-driven spread of COVID-19 in the province, as the testing system is at capacity and PCR tests are being rationed for seniors and at-risk groups.
Earlier Thursday, the independent BC COVID-19 Modelling Group released a report suggesting that without current restrictions, the testing system would detect about 3.6 times as many cases as it is finding.
That same report warned that the province could face a massive surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in hospital in the coming weeks that would dwarf anything seen so far in the pandemic.
As of Thursday, more than 4.4 million British Columbians, 88.4 per cent of those eligible and 85 per cent of B.C.’s population, had received one dose of vaccine.
Of them, more than 4.14 million people, 83.1 per cent of those eligible and 80 per cent of B.C.’s population have had two doses.
The number of people with a third booster shot surpassed one million Thursday, accounting for 22.5 per cent of those eligible and 20 per cent of B.C.’s population.
Double vaccinated people accounted for 83.5 per cent of new cases over the past week and 58.9 per cent of hospitalizations over the past two weeks.
Unvaccinated people however, continue to be disproportionately severely affected by the virus: there were 29.5 unvaccinated people hospitalized per 100,000 population compared to just 4.2 fully vaccinated per 100,000.
Since the start of the pandemic, B.C. has reported 273,731 total cases, while 2,430 people have died.