VANCOUVER -- Ninety-one additional cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in British Columbia over the last 24 hours, but there have been no additional deaths, health officials announced Wednesday.

There are now 1,376 active cases of the coronavirus in the province - the second straight decline after a significant drop on Tuesday that officials attributed to a delay in the reporting of recovery data from the Vancouver area. 

Wednesday's update, which was delivered by news release, rather than a live briefing, indicated that there are 62 people in hospital with the virus, including 18 who are in intensive care.

Since the pandemic began, there have been 8,395 total cases of COVID-19 and 227 deaths recorded in B.C.

No new outbreaks have been reported, and outbreaks at Bear Creek Villa independent-living facility and Normanna long-term care facility have been declared over, said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and deputy minister of health Stephen Brown in their statement.

That leaves nine long-term care and assisted-living facilities, as well as five acute-care facilities, with ongoing outbreaks in B.C.'s health-care system.

No new community outbreaks have been declared, and the outbreak at a Loblaws warehouse in Surrey has been declared over, Henry and Brown said.

Though Wednesday's update contained positive trends in the number of new cases, active cases and outbreaks, officials stressed that there is more work to be done.

"New cases and clusters of COVID-19 remain higher than where we would like them to be," Brown and Henry said in their statement.

"The impact of this means that thousands of people in B.C. are now under active public health monitoring and care, with many forced to deal with the stress and anxiety that comes with having to self-isolate away from work, friends and family," the pair continued.

A total of 3,368 people are currently being monitored because of exposure to known cases of the coronavirus, according to Wednesday's update.

There are now 6,769 people who are considered recovered from COVID-19 in B.C., an increase of 180 compared to the total reported Tuesday, which was itself 617 higher than the previous day's total.

Before Tuesday, the highest number of recoveries B.C. had recorded in a single day was 121 back in March.

The vast majority of B.C.'s COVID-19 cases have been located in the Lower Mainland, with 4,302 in the Fraser Health region and 3,016 in Vancouver Coastal Health.

Elsewhere in B.C., there have been 515 cases recorded in Interior Health, 273 in Northern Health and 203 in Island Health. There have also been 86 cases among people who reside outside Canada.

Henry and Brown asked British Columbians to continue to follow "COVID-19 safety basics," including frequent hand-washing, maintaining physical distance from others and wearing a mask when that's not possible, limiting social interactions and always staying home when ill.

"By using the layers of protection, we reduce our personal risks and the number of new cases, and we make our communities safer," the pair said.