New infections continue to be detected at a rate in excess of 500 per day. In the past 24 hours, health officials determined that another 556 people have contracted the virus, for a total of 88,929 since the first case was discovered in late January, 2020. Health officials discovered 116 new infections that are of what they call "variants of concern," because these mutant strains of the virus transmit more easily. In total, B.C. has identified 996 variant infections, and 130 of those are in people actively battling the infection. No one has yet died in B.C. from a known variant strain of COVID-19. The B.1.1.7 strain first identified in the U.K. is the most common variant in the province, as 921 people have been infected with it. Another 41 people have contracted the B.1.351 strain, first found in South Africa, while 34 people have come down with the P.1 strain first discovered in Brazil.