VANCOUVER - Overdose deaths in British Columbia linked to illicit drug use continue to climb in 2016, with far more incidents being linked to the dangerous opioid fentanyl.

While deaths across the province dropped slightly in July compared with previous months, there were 433 deaths recorded between Jan. 1 and July 31, a nearly 75-per-cent increase compared with the same period in 2015.

The total number of overdose deaths in July was 52, down from 61 in June, show the statistics released Thursday by the coroner's service.

The updated statistics show the number of deaths between Jan. 1 and June 30 where fentanyl was detected has leapt to 238, a 250-per-cent increase over the same period last year.

Overdoses that were connected in some way to fentanyl made up 30 per cent of the overall total of illicit drug deaths in all of 2015, while that percentage for the first half of this year has grown to more than 60 per cent.

Fentanyl overdoses were classified as a public health emergency by the province's medical health officer in April.

Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said people should call 911 to get immediate medical help if someone appears to be overdosing. She also urged people to never use drugs alone and to ensure they have available a naloxone kit to help reverse an overdose and someone trained to use it.

Last month, Premier Christy Clark asked the federal government to restrict access to devices involved with drug production, such as pill presses and tableting machines, and to pursue stronger penalties against people who import and traffic fentanyl. Clark wants the Canada Border Services Agency to search small packages, including envelopes, for fentanyl in order to stop the drug from entering the country.

Lapointe said in June that illicit drug overdoses have become the leading cause of unnatural death in the province, outpacing fatalities from vehicle crashes.

Fentanyl is an opioid-based pain killer roughly 100 times stronger than morphine. Recreational drug users may cut or manipulate a fentanyl patch or smoke a gel form of the drug.

By declaring the public health emergency, the province has been able to collect real-time information to help it respond more quickly with prevention programs. Before, overdoses were only reported if someone died, and there was some delay in the information being received from the coroner.

Information on the circumstances of any overdose where emergency personnel or health-care workers respond must now be reported as quickly as possible to medical health officers at regional health authorities. That information includes the location of an overdose, the drugs used, how they were taken, and the age and sex of the person who has overdosed.