6 COVID-19 deaths in past week in N.L. as hospitalizations rise

Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting six new deaths from COVID-19 over the past week and an increase in the number of people hospitalized by the virus.

Numbers released by the provincial Health Departmentshow 19 people are in hospital as a result of the virus, including two people in critical care. That number of hospitalizations is up eight from the last update, on Dec. 14, when 11 people were in hospital, but the number of people in critical care has declined from four.

Two deaths were reported in the Eastern Health region along with two in the Western Health region, one in the Central Health region and one in the Labrador-GrenfellHealth region. Three of the people who died were in their 80s while the other three were in their 70s.

A total of 291 people have died in Newfoundland and Labrador due to COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

The province also reported 97 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the last week, 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.

Wednesday is the last time the province's dashboard will be updated in 2022 as the Department of Health is moving to updates every two weeks. A statement from the department says case numbers have remained steady enough to reduce the frequency of updates.

Numbers pertaining to influenza will continue to be updated weekly through the flu season.

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