The number of active COVID-19 hospitalizations in New Brunswick has nearly doubled over the past week, according to the two health authorities.
Updated figures released by the Horizon and Vitalité health networks show 95 people in the hospital as of Saturday, including seven in intensive care.
That is compared to 50 hospitalizations and four ICU admissions reported by the health authorities one week earlier.
- Horizon Health: 78 active admissions and six in intensive care, compared to 36 active admissions and three in intensive care one week ago.
- Vitalité Health: 17 active admissions and one in intensive care, compared to 14 active admissions and one in intensive care one week ago.
The figures reported by the health authorities include those hospitalized for COVID and those with the virus being treated primarily for other conditions.
Meanwhile, the latest weekly COVIDWATCH update from the province — which only includes patients hospitalized as a result of COVID — showed 17 people in hospital as of Saturday, down by two. The number of people in an ICU increased to two.
There were 15 new hospital admissions for COVID over the past week compared to 22 new admissions the previous week, according to Public Health. One of those new admissions involved someone under the age of 10.
There were two new ICU admissions for COVID-19 over the same period compared to four the week before.
Saint John region hotspot for new cases
There were 2,465 reported positive cases of COVID-19 over the past week, a week-over-week increase of nearly 29 per cent. Those figures included 1,044 PCR tests and 1,421 rapid tests.
The Saint John health region, Zone 2, remains the hotspot with 944 new cases, accounting for 38 per cent of last week’s total case count.
The Moncton (Zone 1) and Fredericton (Zone 3) health zones each recorded about 23 per cent of the new cases.
Chief medical health officer Dr. Jennifer Russell said there are indications that New Brunswick is at the start of a period of heightened activity of COVID-19, driven by Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.
Amongst the most recent random samples sequenced, 23 per cent were the BA.2 variant, 32 per cent were BA.4, and 45 per cent were BA.5.
Four more deaths reported
New Brunswick reported four more deaths related to COVID-19 over the past week.
The latest deaths, according to the provincial report, all involve people between the ages of 80 and 89.
There have been 433 deaths attributed to the virus in New Brunswick since the pandemic began.
Fewer than 600 vaccine doses given
In terms of vaccinations, the Department of Health says 576 doses were given out over the past week, including 92 first doses, 121 second doses, and 363 booster doses.
Just over 88 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers have received two doses and 52.9 per cent have received booster shots.
According to the two health authorities, 204 health care workers were off the job as of Saturday for COVID-related reasons, up from 182 a week earlier.
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