Health officials reported 508 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, along with six additional deaths.
Of the new cases, 116 were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 286 in Fraser Health, 22 in Vancouver Island Health, 59 in Interior Health and 25 in Northern Health.
There are 217 people in hospital, a drop of nine in 24-hours and the fewest since Nov. 18.
Deputy Provincial Health Officer Dr. Reka Gustafson reported that BC has recorded 72 cases of COVID-19 variants.
Of those, 52 were the B.1.1.7 variant first reported in the UK and 20 were the B.1.351 variant first reported in South Africa.
The province has administered 192,942 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, of which 36,923 were second doses.
On Thursday, BC administered its highest ever single-day total of vaccine doses.
“The evidence from the immunization of our elders and seniors living in long-term care facilities is actually very encouraging," said Gustafson.
"We are seeing a decline in outbreaks and a local assessment of effectiveness has shown us that there’s substantial protection in the frail elderly from vaccination.”
Earlier Friday, the federal government also said it was extending a number of emergency COVID-19 benefits.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the Canada Recovery Benefit and the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit were each being topped up by 12 weeks and adding 24 weeks to EI availability.
