N.L. reports 6 COVID-19 deaths in weekly pandemic update

Six people have died from COVID-19 in the last week in Newfoundland and Labrador, raising the province's total deaths to 285 since the pandemic began in March 2020.

The provincial government's latest numbers, released Wednesday at noon NT, show 11 people in hospital, including four in critical care. Hospitalizations have fallen since last week, when 15 people were in hospital, with fivein critical care.

Three of the deaths were in the Eastern Health region, and three were in the Central Health region. Four of the people who died were in their 70s and two were 80 or older.

The province has also recorded 142 new cases of COVID-19 since last week's update, but the numbers don't reflect the true prevalence of the disease, since it records only positive PCR tests done by provincial health authorities, and doesn't include rapid tests done by the public on their own.

Last Thursday marked the 1,000th day of the pandemic inNewfoundland and Labrador, which registered its first presumptive positive case of COVID-19on March 14, 2020.

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