2 more COVID-19 deaths, as N.L. hospitalizations hit record high

One week after Newfoundland and Labrador's Health Departmentliftednearly all public health restrictions, the number of people in hospital because of COVID-19 has risen to a record high.

According to the latest information posted Mondayto the government's new digital COVID-19 hub, there are 31 people in hospital because of the virus.

Three of those people are in intensive care.

Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, chiefmedical officer of health,has said the health-care system can handle between 40 and 60 COVID-19 hospitalizations at a time.

As well, two more people have died since Friday, which is the last time the website was updated.

They raise the total number of COVID-19 deaths in N.L. to 87.

Public Health has also reported 1,222 new cases 449 on both Saturday and Sunday, and 324 on Monday.

Those numbers though, aren't an accurate reflection of the state of the virus in the province. The government said it is no longer possible to track the spread of the most highly contagious variants of the coronavirus.

Late Thursday afternoon, Public Health announced it was moving away fromPCR testing, restricting it to the most vulnerable cases.

Fitzgerald saidit is time for labs to refocus and the move was necessary in order for the province's health-care system to return to normal.

• Fitzgerald defends changes to COVID-19 testing eligibility

On Friday, she said Public Health is focusing on preventing spread among vulnerable populations.

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