2 more COVID-19 deaths as N.L. marks deadliest month of pandemic

Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting two more deaths due to COVID-19, raising theprovince's total since the beginning of the pandemic to 28 with nearly one-third of those coming in January alone.

The two deaths are the eighth and ninth in the province since Jan. 2 the highest total in any month so far, surpassing eight deaths recorded in October.

According to a media release from the Department of Health on Tuesday afternoon, both of the people who died were men over the age of 70 in the Eastern Health region. The number of current hospitalizations due to COVID-19 has dropped by one since Monday's update, to 14, with three people in critical care.

The Health Department also reported 295 new cases of COVID-19, more than half of them 160 in the Eastern Health region. There are also 60 cases in the Western Health region, 49 in the Central Health region, 17 in the Labrador-GrenfellHealth region and nine cases found in a private testing lab outside the regional health authorities.

The new cases are offset by 2,453 recoveries nearly 2 times the province's previous single-day record of 1,029, set Friday leaving 3,166 known active cases, down from more than 5,000 on Monday.

But the new cases come from 1,426 tests processed in the past 24 hours, for a test positivity rate of 20.7 per cent, amongthe highest ratesthe province has seen during the pandemic. For the past few weeks, the province has restricted COVID-19 testing topeople living in high-risk areas or who are symptomatic without being deemed a close contact of a positive case.

The province has advised anyone who has COVID-19 symptomsand is a close contact of a previous case to assume they are positive for the virus and not seek testing.

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