N.B. COVID-19 update: 4 more deaths as province enters final week of Level 2

New Brunswick recorded four more COVID-related deaths on Saturday as the province prepares to enter its final week of Level 2 restrictions.

The deaths include a person in their 70s and two people in their 80swho lived in the Moncton region and a person in their 90s who lived in the Edmundston region, according to the dashboard.

The province announced 303 PCR-confirmed positivesSaturday, putting the province's case count at 3,682. That's an increase of 88 cases from Friday.

An additional 477 people reported positive results from rapid tests.

Since the start of the pandemic, 286 people have died from COVID-19 in New Brunswick.

122 in hospital, including four 19 or under

There are 122 people in hospital, a decrease from 135 on Friday.

There are 14 people in intensive care,an increase from 13 on Friday,. There areeight on a ventilator, which is unchanged from the last report.

Of those in hospital, 59 were admitted for COVID-19, while the other 63 were originally admitted for something else when they tested positive for the virus,according to the dashboard.

Four people 19 or under are hospitalized, down from five on Friday. Three people in their 40s are the youngest requiring intensive care, unchanged from Friday.

The seven-day average of hospitalizations decreased to 142 from 148, and the seven-day average of the number of people in intensive care is down from 16 to 15.

The key metric the province uses to assess whether to tighten or loosen restrictions the seven-day average of new daily hospital admissions is still unavailable to the public.

Overall hospital occupancy across the province is listed at 87 per cent, while ICU capacity is at 77 per cent.

The number of health-care workers off work with COVID is 341, which is unchanged. These include 168 from the Horizon Health Network, 129 from the Vitalit Health Network and 44 from Extra-Mural/Ambulance New Brunswick.

New Cases

The province will enter Level 1of its COVID-19 winter plan on Feb.18 at 11:59 p.m. Level 1has the fewest restrictions, and Dr. Jennifer Russell said the province can expect to see a "manageable" bump in cases.

The regional breakdown of PCR-confirmed cases includes:

Moncton region, Zone 1

• 133 new cases and 1,322 active cases.

Saint John region, Zone 2

• 45 new cases and 756 active cases.

Fredericton region, Zone 3

• 50 new cases and 629 active cases.

Edmundston region, Zone 4

• 22 new cases and 356 active cases.

Campbellton region, Zone 5

• 5 new cases and 103 active cases.

Bathurst region, Zone 6

• 34 new cases and 353 active cases.

Miramichi region, Zone 7

• 14 new cases and 163 active cases.

A total of 708,995 PCR tests have been conducted to date.

As of Saturday, 47.6 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers have received their booster shot, up from 47.3 per cent on Friday, 85.8 per cent have received two doses of a vaccine, unchanged, and 92.5 per cent have received one dose, also unchanged.

New Brunswick has had 32,610 cases of COVID since the beginning of the pandemic, with 28,640 recoveries so far.